Residents in the small Pennsylvania town of Lebanon are in mourning after a triple shooting left two young boys – 8 and 9 years old – dead and a third victim, 19-year-old Joshua Lugo-Perez also fatally injured.
The alleged shooter, 22-year-old Alex Torres-Santos, is now in police custody and facing three counts of homicide and conspiracy to commit criminal homicide.
The breakdown of events, as shared by Lebanon County District Attorney Pier Hess Graf, is heartbreaking in its vividness. Witnesses and surveillance video place a suspect vehicle in the area at 10 p.m. and speeding away moments after the shooting. It is then that police tracked Torres-Santos’ whereabouts thanks to an ankle monitor, which placed him near the crime scene at 10 p.m. and then back home 20 minutes later.
When police arrived to arrest Torres-Santos, he and an underage suspected accomplice fled. After travelling to a neighboring apartment, authorities captured the 22-year-old and uncovered a duffel bag containing cocaine residue, drug scales, and a rifle.
In her statement, Hess Graf pointed to the minimal bail imposed by the judge and the ankle monitor as no deterrent to a violent criminal willing to take a life. She revealed that the two boys killed were playing with their new kitten when the gunfire erupted.
According to the prosecutor, due to the severity of the triple homicide, she is seeking the death penalty in the case. The third suspect thought to be involved in the case remains at large.
The community of Lebanon is struggling to understand the brutality of the attack and the lasting impacts the tragedy will have on the town. There is anger that a 22-year-old with a lengthy rap sheet was released on only $50,000 bail and an ankle monitor, despite the District Attorney’s Office requesting $100,000 in each case.