Affidavits of probable cause for the arrest of 22-year-old Alex Torres-Santos and 16-year-old James Fernandez-Reyes have revealed details on how the suspects were identified and apprehended to face charges over Tuesday evening’s triple homicide in Lebanon.
Read More: Two arrested in triple murder of children and teenager; third suspect at large
As has been previously reported, city police were dispatched to 444 N. 5th St. on Tuesday evening, May 30, shortly after 10 p.m. for a report of gunshots fired.
According to the affidavit, police found victims, 8-year-old Jesus Perez-Salome, his 9-year-old brother, Sebastian Perez-Salome, and 19-year-old Joshua Lugo-Perez on the rear porch of the building, all with gunshot wounds.
District Attorney Pier Hess Graf said earlier today Perez-Salome died at the scene, Sebastian died in a Dauphin County hospital, and Lugo-Perez died in a Lebanon County hospital.
A fourth victim, 33-year-old Luis Cancel, was injured in the shootings. At last word, he remained hospitalized. City Police Chief Bret Fisher said Cancel was “hit in the next-door residence by what appeared to be a stray, untargeted bullet.”
According to the affidavit, police identified numerous spent .223 rifle rounds and numerous 9mm handgun rounds at the western edge of a playground just east of Cherry Street.
The affidavit states that a witness who had been on N. 4th Street at the time told police he saw the shooter where the spent cartridges were later found. The witness told police that a white vehicle had then left the park and traveled east on Arnold Street, before heading north on N. 4th Street at a high rate of speed.
According to the affidavit, a police source provided a possible suspect with the street name of “Flacco,” as well as several Instagram accounts/photos for “Flacco.”
The affidavit also states that another witness had seen men behind his house at the time of the gunshots and that, when illuminated by muzzle flash, he could see the build of one of the shooters, which police said was consistent with “Flacco.” (“Flacco” was later identified by police as Fernandez-Reyes.)
Police said that Torres-Santos had been previously identified as the offender of two winter shootings in Lebanon which targeted one Luis Rosario-Rodriguez. The affidavit states that during the investigation into the second shooting, which took place on Feb. 7, Rosario-Rodriguez described a second person who was with Torres-Santos as being “a juvenile light skinned male with red hair.” Police said that video obtained during that investigation also showed another male with Torres-Santos, and that the individual was determined to resemble “Flacco.”
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Torres-Santos was wearing his electric monitoring bracelet at the time of the shooting, according to the affidavit. Torres-Santos was on house arrest for his February charges, with an ankle monitor, when Tuesday’s triple murders occurred. Police said that the GPS activity obtained from Lebanon County Probation Services showed him leaving his residence at 434 N. 9th St. at 9:42 p.m., followed by a ping at 9:59 p.m. when he was at the location of the shooting, followed moments later by a ping at 7th and Arnold streets, before Torres-Santos had apparently returned to the location of the shooting at 10:03 p.m. Torres-Santos’ ankle monitor pinged from his house again at 10:24 p.m., with police noting that GPS monitoring did not show him stopping anywhere for an extended duration between the shooting and returning to his residence.
Police said they located video footage of a white vehicle parking in the 400 block of Arnold Street at approximately 9:58 p.m. The video showed three people exiting the vehicle and walking west and out of frame, before running back to the vehicle at 10:05 p.m. and fleeing the area.
Police said that 27 discharged .223 and 9mm cartridge casings were found at the scene. The affidavit states that based on the video and the scene, it is believed that more than one person fired rounds on the scene.
The affidavit says that police petitioned for the revoke of Torres-Santos’ bail, which was granted, and that an order was also approved authorizing his immediate arrest pending a bail revocation hearing. After obtaining a search warrant, Lebanon County Emergency Services Unit arrived at the 434 N. 9th St. residence on Wednesday morning to arrest Torres-Santos and execute the search warrant. The affidavit says that Torres-Santos fled, but was captured by police.
A second subject also fled and hid in another apartment within the same building, without permission. After he was apprehended, the second subject was identified as Fernandez-Reyes.
Police said that inside the apartment, they found an AR-15 rifle in a duffel bag, along with magazines filled with .223 ammunition. Police said that in the same closest where the duffel bag was found, a small Nike handbag containing drug paraphernalia, a digital scale, a baggie with cocaine residue, and a wallet with identification belonging to Torres-Santos was also discovered.
Police said that during this investigation, they heard from another witness who identified Fernandez-Reyes and Torres-Santos as the shooters. According to the affidavit, the witness told police that Torres-Santos fired the rifle, while Fernandez-Reyes and the other unidentified male fired handguns.
Police said that Torres-Santos was interviewed and admitted to being present for the shooting, but claimed that Fernandez-Reyes and the other unidentified male were responsible for the firing of guns into the rear of 444 and 446 N. 5th St.
The affidavit states that neither Fernandez-Reyes nor Torres-Santos had a valid license for concealed firearms.
Police have not yet identified the third assailant.
Both Fernandez-Reyes and Torres-Santos face more than a half-dozen felonies each, including three counts each of criminal homicide and conspiracy to commit criminal homicide.
Fernandez-Reyes has a preliminary hearing scheduled for June 8, while Torres-Santos’ preliminary hearing is currently scheduled for June 15.
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