Kyle Gilmartin will pray.
The wounded Scranton police detective told a crowded Lackawanna County courtroom on Tuesday that he’s going to pray for the two-year-old son of Jeremiah Cleveland, who now faces growing up without a father.
He’s going to pray for Cleveland, whose early morning drive-bys in Scranton in January 2024 led to Gilmartin getting shot twice in the head.
And he’s going to pray for Aiden Deininger, the person who pulled the trigger that nearly cost him Gilmartin life and permanently altered his trajectory.
“I’ll continue to pray for you that you wake up,” Gilmartin told them.
Just over two years since Gilmartin, 36, was shot trying to prevent a shooting, county Judge Michael Barrasse on Tuesday handed down lengthy prison sentences for Deininger and Cleveland.
Deininger’s 25-to-83-year term and Cleveland’s 20-to-43-year sentence followed a three-hour hearing that featured more than a half-dozen videos and statements from Gilmartin, his wife, mother, aunt and sister-in-law.
“You stole our peace,” his wife, Lindsay Gilmartin, said.
Cleveland’s sentence was the maximum penalty that Barrasse could impose. Deputy District Attorney Sara Varela called him the “catalyst for this entire chain of events.”
The judge said Cleveland was a “danger to society” and that “protecting the public is the dominant goal.”
The courtroom was crowded with state troopers, city cops and Gilmartin’s family. Six reserved rows were not enough to seat them all and more stood against the back wall and near the courtroom door.
A few rows also seated friends and family members of Cleveland and Deininger. They did not speak up in court. When Cleveland was sentenced, his significant other, who was seated just behind him, wailed and shook.
“This isn’t a place for you,” said a person trying to comfort her.
“My family is right there,” replied the weeping woman, pointing to the defense table.
Deininger’s mother, Crystal Eastman, joined via video uplink from Aruba, where she had a pre-planned vacation, and told the judge that her son’s actions that morning in 2024 were so “at odds” with who she raised.
“He befriended people who compromised his morals,” Eastman said.
Law enforcement believe that Cleveland and Deininger were affiliated to some degree with Gangster Disciples, a street and prison gang founded in Chicago.
In videos Cleveland streamed live to Instagram on January 11,2024, he shot at the homes of rival gang members, those he called “GDK,” or Gangster Disciple Killer.
“Bow, bow, bow, bow,” Cleveland said in a video as the revolver he pointed out of a car window thudded. No injuries were reported.
The city’s detective bureau knew of the videos and were working on tracking them down, authorities previously testified.
By 4:30 a.m., Cleveland started streaming again but now from inside of his home. Deininger was still out, and prosecutors said Cleveland urged him to target and “shoot” another rival gang member in West Scranton.
A crush of police rushed toward North Hyde Park Avenue. Gilmartin was one of them.
When Gilmartin and detectives Jason Hyler and Joseph Lafferty, now the deputy chief, found Deininger and tried to arrest him, Deininger started shooting. Speaking in court Tuesday, Gilmartin said Deininger’s gun was close enough to touch when it erupted.
Lafferty shot back and hit Deininger in his back, buttocks and leg. An ambulance took him to a hospital, where he awaited charged of attempted murder of a police officer. Cleveland was also soon arrested for firing into houses and for solicitation to commit aggravated assault.
They pleaded guilty to most of their charges in October.
Speaking in court, both Deininger and Cleveland expressed remorse.
Cleveland told the judge he was “wrong” and that he will “accept the consequences I am about to receive.” Deininger said he would try to spend what he has left of his life “putting good into the world.”
Barrasse told Deininger he was lucky he was not facing death row, which may have happened had Gilmartin died.
“I just want to say I’m sorry,” Deininger said. “You don’t have to believe that. I hope the rest of my life shows that I am.”
Prosecutors spared the courtroom Tuesday from the most graphic body camera videos, such as the desperate race Patrolman Pat Perry drove to bring a dying Gilmartin to Geisinger Community Medical Center.
Details of that early morning were brought to Barrasse from the perspective of Gilmartin’s family. A photograph of Gilmartin holding his infant son, Liam, shown on a projector screen.
Lindsay Gilmartin recounted the phone call “that shattered my life.”
She is a nurse, she said. She knows the survival chances. She knows the realities of brain damage.
“I was preparing myself to be a 36-year-old widow,” she said.
Sandra Gilmartin, Kyle’s mother, told the judge she stood over her son at the hospital as he hovered on the edge of death. Lindsay Gilmartin’s startling phone call — “Please help me! Kyle was shot!” — was still fresh.
Kyle Gilmartin did not die. Against the early expectations of those around him, he pulled through.
After surgeries and months of therapy, Gilmartin is almost unrecognizable from the grievously wounded man taking his first steps into recovery, though he still deals with chronic pain. A long scar runs down the back of his head, but signs of his injuries are less pronounced.
He also still has a sense of humor. When a reporter asked about his new service dog, a Goldendoodle named Gates, he wryly replied that the dog is a cross between a Pitbull and a Shih Tzu.
But the presence of Gates, a Post Traumatic Stress Disorder service dog, reflects that Gilmartin continues to deal with more than just the physical injuries of that day.
His wife, Lindsay Gilmartin, told Barrasse loud noises and sudden movements are triggering. Gilmartin said he struggles to hold a thought for more than a few seconds.
“I want you to know what you stole from us,” Lindsay Gilmartin told Deininger and Cleveland.
The shooting took away a career Gilmartin’s loved ones said gave him purpose. Still, Gilmartin signaled he is not yet done serving his community.
“I’m gonna find a way to come back and serve it another way,” he said.