A Norristown teenager’s gunfire killed a man eating Thanksgiving dinner with his family, police say

A Norristown teenager has been charged with murder after investigators say he started a November shootout in which a stray bullet struck and killed a man eating Thanksgiving dinner at home with family.

Kevon Clarke, 19, was arrested Monday after two weeks of searching by U.S. Marshals and detectives from the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office. He was charged with first- and third-degree murder, reckless endangerment, and related offenses. Clarke was denied bail, and it was unclear if he had hired a defense attorney.

Edilberto Miguel Palaez Moctezuma, 25, was struck once in his torso on Nov. 25 as he was sitting at his family’s dining room table inside their home on Arch Street, finishing his Thanksgiving dinner, according to police. He was taken to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center and later died.

The bullet that killed him, which crashed through a kitchen window, was fired by Clarke, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest.

Palaez Moctezuma’s family, reached Monday, declined to comment on Clarke’s arrest, saying they were still processing their loss on what was supposed to be a holiday of family gathering and peace.

The gunfire beganafter Clarke, his girlfriend, and two of their friends were kicked out of a Thanksgiving celebration at a home a few blocks away on Haws Avenue, the affidavit said.

The host of that party accused Clarke’s girlfriend of stealing bottles of liquor from the home, and arrangements were made for her to return them outside Clarke’s apartment.

When the girlfriend’s cousin arrived, Clarke came outside brandishing a gun, the affidavit said. The woman said she heard several shots as she drove away.

Surveillance footage from nearby homes showed Clarke firing a handgun down Arch Street, toward the home where Palaez Moctezuma was eating dinner, according to the affidavit. Two other men were seen running from the scene, and detectives are still investigating their possible role in the crime, investigators said.

Two calibers of bullets were discovered outside the Arch Street home where Palaez Moctezuma was shot, but the surveillance footage and trajectory of the bullet led investigators to conclude that Clarke fired the shot that killed him, the affidavit said.