CLEVELAND, Ohio — Police in Texas arrested a man they believed to be a double-murder suspect who has been on the run since he was accused of killing two people nearly a year ago on Interstate 90 in Cleveland.
The man arrested by Austin, Texas police gave officers there an alias and date of birth that Gianni Gray used during previous arrests, according to Northern Ohio U.S. Marshal Pete Elliott.
Elliott’s team has been searching for Gray, 36, since July.
Investigators believed they arrested Gray, and the Austin police notified Cleveland police. The identity of the man arrested in Texas was quickly called into question.
Austin police about 11:30 a.m. notified the Cleveland Municipal Court that the man they arrested was not, in fact, Gray, so the court could keep Gray’s warrant active.
That means that if Gray is arrested anywhere in the country, law enforcement will be able to see he has warrant out for his arrest.
Elliott said fingerprints showed proved that the man they took into custody was not their man.
Gray is charged with aggravated murder in the July 14, 2018 shooting on the West 117th Street exit. Malachia Perez Stewart III and Andre Williams, both 35, died.
The shooting happened about 7:30 p.m. Stewart and Williams were in the same car when Gray pulled up next to them on the ramp and opened fire, according to police and court records.
Police have not yet identified the driver.
Both Williams and Stewart suffered several gunshot wounds to their heads and bodies, according to police.
Gray’s gunfire also grazed a 23-year-old Lakewood woman sitting at the same exit, according to police.
Gray has been convicted of several felonies since 2001, including a 2017 conviction for attempted possession of a shotgun and handgun. He was released from prison on less than a year before the shooting.
Gray’s brother, Orlando Gray, was shot and killed in May 2015.
He is also wanted by U.S. Marshals in connection with a 2015 double shooting in Orange County, Florida. Both of those victims survived.