A 23-year-old man from Carbondale has been charged with first-degree murder in connection to the shooting death of a Belleville man who died Jan. 21.

The Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis issued a news release Jan. 24 announcing the murder charge against Kaleb E. Freeman. Freeman was charged after the case was reviewed by the Madison County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Authorities started investigating when police went to an apartment in reference to a call of shots fired at about 12:20 p.m. Jan. 21.

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Police found Montrea L. Marshall, 21, with a gunshot wound outside an apartment building in the 800 block of South Morrison Avenue in Collinsville. Marshall was later pronounced dead at Anderson Hospital in Maryville.

In a news release, Collinsville Major Richard Wittenauer said investigators had determined that Marshall and Freeman knew each other and had planned to meet at a friend of Marshall’s apartment located at 805 South Morrison Street.

Police said Freeman and a female passenger left Carbondale in a white 2011 Chevrolet Cruze on the morning of Jan. 21 and got to the Collinsville apartment shortly after noon. Freeman had parked away from the apartment building and got out of the car to meet with Marshall while the female passenger remained in the vehicle.

Police believe that shortly after, Freeman and Marshall got into an altercation on or near an outside stairwell of the apartment building. That’s when police said Freeman allegedly shot Marshall in the chest and drove away in the Cruze.

Police said several witnesses were able to provide a description of the suspect, which direction he fled and details of the car police that were looking for in the case.

Freeman was arrested on the night of Jan. 24 with the assistance of the U.S. Marshals Service, Carbondale Police Department and Major Case Squad.

Freeman had been located by authorities at a residence located at 1005 Candletree Lane in Carbondale, about 94 miles away from where Marshall was shot.

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