LEHIGH CO., Pa. – The Lehigh County District Attorney’s office says an Allentown man has been found guilty of murder and criminal homicide after a three-day jury trial that ended Thursday.
32-year-old Evander Thompson was convicted of felony charges of criminal homicide, murder of the first degree; and firearms not to be carried without a license.
Thompson was convicted of killing 61-year-old Orlando Ibanez, who died Sept. 23, 2023.
Just before 2 a.m. on Sept. 23, 2023, Allentown Police responded to a 911 call for a shooting at 540 W. Allen Street.
Officers found Ibanez at the entrance to his apartment. Ibanez died from a gunshot wound to his neck and his death was ruled a homicide by Lehigh County Coroner Daniel Buglio.
Officers found a shell casing near Ibanez’ body that was collected as evidence.
City surveillance cameras showed a man later identified as Thompson enter the West Allen Street home just prior to the shooting where he remained for several minutes before running away.
Video footage recovered by the investigators showed Thompson using his cellphone moments after the shooting.
Upon recovering his cellphone and obtaining court permission to search the phone, it was revealed that while walking away from the shooting Thompson texted to his paramour the words “he dead.”
Investigators also used city cameras and privately-owned cameras that showed Thompson walking to the scene of the shooting from his home at 230 N. Nagle St. and later returning to his home after the shooting.
Other video footage showed Thompson prior to the shooting wearing the same clothing and leaving an Allentown bar and restaurant just after 1 a.m. the morning the killing occurred. Copies of the receipts from that establishment identified Thompson as being there in the hours before the murder occurred.
Authorities later found a gun on Thompson’s paramour’s minor son. The Lehigh County District Attorney’s Firearm and Tool Mark Laboratory compared that gun to the shell casing found at the scene of the homicide and the projectile removed from the victim at the autopsy and determined both items matched the gun recovered from the minor.
Police and analysts with the Regional Intelligence and Investigation Center also found a video recorded by Thompson showing himself with a gun consistent with the murder weapon.
Thompson now faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.
Thompson’s sentencing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Oct. 14, 2026 before Judge Steinberg.
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The Allentown District Attorney’s office has announced the arrest of a man accused of a 2023 homicide in Allentown.