A California man has been charged with murder in the slaying of his former neighbor, a 43-year-old father of four who had moved his family out of the Bay Area neighborhood.
Miles Armstead, a highly regarded banker in the Bay Area, was outside the Oakland house he was preparing to sell when Jamal Thomas, 44, allegedly shot him dead on May 1. Armstead was listing the home to evade the neighborhood and keep his children and expecting wife away from Thomas.
Thomas, who was evicted from his own residence and had been accused of making threats to Armstead and his family, was charged with eight felony accounts related to the slaying on Thursday, The Mercury News reports.
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Thomas was found and arrested hours after the homicide at an Oakland hotel. He is being held without bail.
In addition to murder, the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office charged Thomas with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon.
Thomas, who Armstead called a “chronic nuisance in the neighborhood,” according to the East Bay Times, was previously arrested in February after threatening to burn down Armstead’s house. He pled not guilty after being charged for making criminal threats, but was released on his own recognizance.
Following the release, Thomas was later accused of throwing objects through the Armstead family’s windows on two separate occasions. He is suspected of throwing a rock in March that almost hit Armstead in the head. In April, Thomas allegedly threw a brick that almost hit his pregnant wife.
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These string of incidents caused Armstead, who was a wealth management banker at Fremont Bank, to move his family out of the house.
Armstead frequently returned to the house for remodeling projects in preparation to sell. That’s when Thomas allegedly shot Armstead multiple times in front of the house.
Fremont Bank has set up a GoFundMe page for Armstead’s family, where people have donated nearly $42,000 as of Saturday morning. The goal is to raise $50,000 for Armstead’s family. The bank described him as “a beloved member of our Fremont Bank family.”
“Because so many of you are asking what you can do, Fremont Bank set up this GoFundMe account to accept donations for his family,” the post read. “Any amount that you can contribute will be appreciated in supporting Miles’ family as they navigate their lives without Miles.”
Thomas was arraigned on Friday. The motive for the slaying is unclear.
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