ALLENTOWN, Pa. – It’s the second day of the murder trial for an Allentown man accused of shooting three people and killing two of them in 2023. One of the victims who died was only 13 months old.

This morning we heard from the DNA expert who tested the evidence Allentown Police collected from the scene of the shooting on the 100 block of Chestnut Street.

And one piece of the evidence pointed to the suspect, 45-year-old Gabriel Cartegena.

Cartagena is accused of going up to the front door of Leandro and Ada Ortiz back in December of 2023.

The prosecution says he knocked, but had his 40-caliber handgun ready. And when Ada opened the door holding her 13-month-old grandson Sebastian, Cartagena is accused of opening fire on them.

Ada was shot six times and Sebastian was shot twice, killing them both.

Leandro then pushed the shooter out of the house and was shot once in the chest, but he survived and testified about the shooting on the stand Tuesday.

The defense still argues prosecutors are pointing the finger at the wrong guy, and that Cartagena is not guilty.

But the DNA expert said on the stand Wednesday morning they were able to find a positive match to Cartagena’s DNA on a cigarette butt found by police on the sidewalk outside the Ortiz’ home.

That may at least show Cartagena was likely outside their home.

Security camera video also caught the shooting as it was happening.

Even though it was dark, and it’s almost impossible to see the shooter’s face in the video, you can see he’s wearing a tan baseball cap. Police testified Wednesday morning they found a similar hat when they searched Cartagena’s house.

So, the cigarette butt evidence seems pretty important, but there was an interesting back and forth between Cartagena’s defense attorneys and the police officer on the stand. Noting the cigarette butt samples were stored in the same bag, which could be against police department procedure.

The officer on the stand simply said he didn’t package them and that’s not how he would have done it.

The trial continues Wednesday afternoon.

We’ll bring you more updates in a live report on 69 News at 4 and 5 o’clock.