Authorities in St. Louis Park arrested on Thursday a suspected gang member charged four months ago in the 2005 drive-by shooting death of a former Marine in south Minneapolis.

Romero J. Spellmon, 26, of Bloomington, is the second person implicated in the April 2005 slaying of Richmond E. Dunbar, 29, of Coon Rapids. Dunbar was arriving at a barbecue at a friend's home in 3700 block of Oakland Avenue S. when he was shot in the head.

Police have said Dunbar was mistaken for a gang member when he was killed. The Liberian-born Dunbar served in the Marines for six years. He was buried at Fort Snelling National Cemetery with full military honors.

Members of the FBI's Minnesota Fugitive Task Force tracked Spellmon to the 3500 block of Aquila Circle and arrested him there. He was charged by warrant in April.

In May, a Hennepin County grand jury indicted Kendrick T. Belyeu, 24, of Minneapolis, in the killing. Belyeu and Spellmon are jailed on charges of first- and second-degree murder.

According to police, witnesses said that some people at the barbecue were P-Stone gang members and that some members of the Outlaw Bloods gang had come to the party and were turned away.

An unnamed gang member told authorities that Belyeu told him that some gang members who were turned away called Belyeu, who went to the party and "got to shootin'."

A criminal complaint against Spellmon said investigators were contacted by a Bloods gang member, identified as "Witness 21." The witness said Spellmon, also a Blood, told him that he and Belyeu killed Dunbar, the complaint said.

PAUL WALSH