A Reading man was arrested shortly after police said he fired a handgun in broad daylight along a Shillington thoroughfare.
Joseph R. Santos Jr., 20, was taken into custody at gunpoint Tuesday in the 200 block of West Lancaster Avenue — about three blocks from where the gunfire occurred in the 100 block of South Wyomissing Avenue — by officers from Shillington and Cumru Township police.
According to the probable cause affidavit:
An Uber driver was waiting about 10:30 a.m. outside a residence for a customer when a white man in his early 20s came out of the same home, pointed a handgun in the air and fired a shot close to the driver’s vehicle. The driver called 911 and told police that the man left the block carrying multiple bags.
Officers found Santos in an auto sales lot and ordered him to show his hands. He was handcuffed and identified by the Uber driver as the person who fired the gun.
Santos initially denied shooting or possessing a gun, but later admitted he had a handgun in his backpack. He also told officers that they would find a bag of marijuana in another bag. He said the gun discharged accidentally as he tried to move it from his pants pocket into the backpack.
Santos did not have a permit to carry a firearm, and, when asked where he got it, he said he took it from his girlfriend without her permission.
Santos was charged with reckless endangerment, carrying a firearm without a permit, disorderly conduct and possessing a small amount of marijuana.
He was committed to Berks County Jail in lieu of $20,000 bail following arraignment by District Judge Kyley L. Scott in Reading Central Court.