Halifax Regional Police say 27-year-old Tyrell Dechamp has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder more than a year-and-a-half after the deaths of two men.

Homicide investigators arrested Dechamp at the Atlantic Institution correctional facility in Renous, N.B. at 8:37 a.m. Friday.

Dechamp is charged in the deaths of 29-year-old Tyler Richards -- who was found dead inside a home on April 17, 2016 -- and 23-year-old Naricho Clayton, who was killed two days later.

"As you can appreciate, these are complex investigations. There's mountains of evidence to collect along the way, and this week we felt that we were in a position to advance it, make the case and put it before the courts," said Halifax Regional Police Supt. Jim Perrin.

Officers responded to a home in the 6900 block of Cook Avenue at 7:55 p.m. on April 17, 2016. Officers found the body of Richards inside. His death was later ruled a homicide.

On April 19, 2016, police responded to the 2000 block of Gottingen Street before 11 p.m. after receiving several reports that shots had been fired.

When officers arrived, they found two men with gunshot wounds inside a vehicle. Clayton, of Dartmouth, was pronounced dead at the scene. His death was ruled a homicide. A 31-year-old man originally from Halifax was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries, but he survived.

Dechamp was charged with attempted murder in the case of the injured man.

Investigators say Dechamp will appear in a Halifax courtroom on Monday to face the murder and attempted murder charges.

Janice Richards, Tyler's mother, declined to appear on camera, but said she feels great relief that a charge has been laid in connection with her son's death.

A memorial wall in Mulgrave Park testifies to the continued mourning for Richards, a former basketball star at St. Francis Xavier University and with the Halifax Rainmen.

Elaine Williams of the Mulgrave Park Tenants Association described Richards as "a young man who was in his prime, and had so much to offer to the community, and really, life,"

Community members of Mulgrave Park say they believe the courtroom will be packed when Dechamp appears in court.

Police remain open to the idea that others may have been involved in the murders. They also believe all parties involved knew each other.

Last April, Dechamp was arrested in Ottawa on a Canada-wide warrant for being unlawfully at large.

At the time of the shootings, Dechamp was on a statutory release from prison, where he had served two-thirds of a five-year sentence for second-degree murder and aggravated assault in connection with another case.

Parole documents reveal he killed a man by stabbing him in the neck and punched a woman hard enough to cause bleeding of the brain.

Dechamp was released on a number of conditions, including an order to stay in a halfway house in Halifax.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Ron Shaw.