ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Lehigh County Coroner Daniel Buglio has identified the teenager who was shot and killed in Allentown over the weekend.
Ja’meer Roberts, 17, of Allentown, was pronounced dead on Saturday at 11:31 p.m. in the emergency department at Lehigh Valley Hospital — Muhlenberg, according to the coroner.
Buglio says the cause of death is multiple gunshot wounds, and the manner of death was ruled a homicide.
Allentown Police Department officers responded around 10:01 p.m. Saturday to the area of North Jay Street and East North Street following reports of gunfire.
When officers arrived, they found three victims suffering from apparent gunshot wounds. Emergency medical personnel treated the victims at the scene before transporting all three to area hospitals.
The Allentown Police Department, the Lehigh County Homicide Task Force, the Lehigh County District Attorney’s Office and the Lehigh County Coroner’s Office are conducting the investigation.
Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk released a statement, expressing his condolences and saying that “we have to do better.”
“Among the great tragedies of our time is that so many guns find their way into the hands of so many young people so easily. This was a person not even 18 years old…. A boy… a child… who had his whole life ahead of him. This happened to another young man two weeks ago in our city.
We have to do better. We have to stop the flow of guns into the hands of young people,” the full statement reads.
‘We have to do better’: Allentown Mayor speaks out after 17-year-old killed in shooting
No arrests have been announced, and authorities have not released additional information about the shooting. The investigation remains ongoing.