Balloons, candles and stuffed animals on a porch in the 400 block of North Fifth Street where three people, including an 8-year old and 9-year-old brothers were killed during a shooting on May 30, 2023
Jeremy Long / WITF
Updated: June 1, 2023 | 12:00 pm
2 charged in Lebanon shooting that left 2 children, teenager dead
Police are looking for a third suspect in the shooting
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Jeremy Long/WITF
Jeremy Long / WITF
Balloons, candles and stuffed animals on a porch in the 400 block of North Fifth Street where three people, including an 8-year old and 9-year-old brothers were killed during a shooting on May 30, 2023
A Lebanon man and teen have been charged with murder in the shooting deaths of two children and a teenager, and the wounding of a fourth person on the city’s northside Tuesday, according to law enforcement officials.
Alex Torres-Santos, 22, and James Fernandez-Reyes, 16, were taken into custody Wednesday for a shooting that left Joshua Lugo-Perez, 19, Jesus Perez-Salome, 8, and Sebastian Perez-Salome, 9, dead, and Luis Cancel, 33, wounded, according to a news release from Lebanon County District Attorney Pier Hess-Graf.
Torres-Santos and Fernadez-Reyes were each charged with three counts of criminal homicide and other related charges, according to court documents.
Both were being held without bail at the Lebanon County Correctional Facility. Fernandez-Reyes was arraigned Wednesday at 11:10 p.m. before District Judge Carl Garver. Torres-Santos was arraigned Thursday at 2:10 a.m. before Garver.
Lugo-Perez, who was not related to Jesus and Sebastian, was living in the same home as the two brothers, according to the district attorney’s office. Jesus and Sebastian were students in the Lebanon School District.
Cancel lived next door and was struck by a bullet while he was in his home.
At a news conference Thursday morning, Lebanon City Police Chief Bret Fisher said Lugo-Perez was targeted in the attack as a result “of a past argument.” He was taken to a Lebanon County hospital where he later died.
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- Alex Torres-Santos
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- James Fernandez-Reyes
Police are still searching for other people, Fisher said. Hess-Graf said Thursday morning a third person was still at large.
“There are three people involved with the shooting, two are in custody,” she said.
Police found Jesus shot dead on the back porch. Sebastian was taken to a Dauphin County hospital where he died, Fisher said.
“There are two children dead as a result of this incident,” Hess-Graf said. “They were outside playing with their kittens. They had nothing to do with this and their mother lost two of her children that evening.”
At least 27 shots were fired from an AR-15 and another gun. The bullets struck parked cars and homes in the 400 block of North Fifth Street.
Police arrived shortly after 10 p.m. and found four people had been shot.
Investigators determined that Torres Santos and Fernandez-Reyes fired at least 27 rounds into the duplex before fleeing.
Torres Santos was on house arrest and was being tracked by an ankle monitor after he posted bail for two previous arrests. His ankle monitor showed he was in the area during the time of the shooting and fled shortly afterwards, according to the district attorney’s office.
Torres Santos was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in January and in February was charged with possession of a firearm with an altered serial number and other drug-related charges. He posted bail on March 30, according to court documents.
Lebanon County SWAT team members executed a search at a home in the 400 block of North Ninth Street Wednesday morning and took someone into custody who is of interest in the case but was arrested on an unrelated matter, Fisher said at a news conference Wednesday morning.
Investigators found multiple firearms in the home including an AR-15 that had ammunition that was consistent with the shell casings found at the scene, according to the district attorney’s office.
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