READING, Pa. – Reading Police have made in arrest in a 2024 homicide.
21-year-old Isheed Freeman is charged with criminal homicide in the shooting death of 27-year-old Darius Francis.
Just before 1 a.m. on August 13, 2024, police responded to the 200 block of Maple Street for a reported shooting.
Arriving officers located Francis, who police determined was shot at least three times. The victim was transported to Reading Hospital where he later succumbed to his injuries.
A witness at the scene told police that Francis arrived at the location a few hours before the shooting and hung out with two people at a home in the block.
About an hour later, police say Freeman and two other individuals arrived at the house after being in contact with one of the witnesses.
According to court documents, the two witnesses exited the house after one of the individuals began to annoy them. They then told police they heard a commotion and “banging” sounds coming from inside. One of the witnesses said they believed the sounds to be gunshots.
Freeman and the other two individuals were then seen running out of the house and into a parking lot across the street. A witness allegedly told police they saw Freeman with a gun in his hand as he ran.
Police later recovered a .40 caliber handgun in the lot directly across the street from where the shooting took place. That gun was later confirmed to be the one used to kill Francis, and police say DNA recovered from the firearm belonged to Freeman.
Online court records list the suspect as in custody at Berks County Jail after being denied bail.
Freeman has a preliminary hearing scheduled for May 29.