Central Harlem Dice-Game Murder Suspect Is Arrested, Police Say

HARLEM, NY — Police have arrested a suspect in last month's murder on a Central Harlem street that reportedly stemmed from a "dice game gone bad," authorities said.

Kurt Walters, 38, of Queens, is accused of fatally shooting 35-year-old James Johnson on West 124th Street on July 23, police said Sunday.

The shooting happened shortly after 12:30 a.m. that night, on a residential street between Malcolm X and Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. boulevards, police said.

According to the Daily News, Johnson was playing dice with friends when he got into an argument with another player, who then took out a gun and opened fire.

Johnson was found with a gunshot wound to the neck, and pronounced dead at the scene, according to authorities. He lived just a couple of blocks away, on West 123rd Street, police said.

Walters, who was arrested on Friday, faces charges of murder, assault and criminal possession of a weapon, police said.

Johnson's killing happened just minutes after a separate, unrelated homicide in front of a brownstone on West 130th Street that claimed a 27-year-old man's life, Patch reported at the time.

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