Triple Slaying Fugitive Arrested in Florida

ORANGE PARK, Fla. --

Heavily armed U.S. marshals and Clay County deputies surrounded a home on Pace Island Monday afternoon and later arrested a man wanted in connection with a triple homicide in Orlando last July.

Authorities said a fugitive task force got a tip that Alex Smart was in a home on Water Pipit Lane inside the gated community. Scores of law enforcement personnel descended on the home, where they found Smart barricaded in the attic.

Smart, 30, was taken to be booked into the Clay County Jail to await extradition to Orange County.

Outstanding warrants charge Smart with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree murder.

Orlando Police Department photo of Alex Smart Smart, 30, was one of three men wanted in connection with the July 30 killings of 18-year-old Cedric Garrett, 16-year-old Carlos Patterson and 29-year-old Marcus Hayes.

Video:Tip Leads To Fugitive In Pace Island Home

Police believe Smart was accidentally wounded in the shootout.

Residents of Pace Island said Monday's standoff was unnerving.

Irv Hadden's wife went out to get the mail and came back in and told him the street outside was full of police cars.

"I stepped out and, gosh, I was shocked," Hadden said. "This is the first time I've ever seen anything like this. Occasionally seen an ambulance come in here, you know to pick up somebody that's sick, but that's the only lights flashing since I've been here."

Authorities have not said why Smart was in the Clay County home.

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