ALLENTOWN, Pa. – A Lehigh County jury found an Allentown man not guilty on all counts after he was accused of fatally shooting a woman and her 13-month-old grandson at their front door.
The verdict was announced shortly after 6:30 p.m. on Friday.
The woman’s husband, who was also shot, survived to testify in court this week.
Just before 4 p.m. Friday, participants were called back into the room for some jury questions asking to define reasonable doubt and certain evidence terms, as well as requesting to again see some of the videos the prosecution compiled.
Inside the courtroom on the fourth day of an emotional trial, two-plus years in the making, family filled both sides as both sides of the case presented closing arguments.
Over the previous three days, the prosecution went to great lengths to try to prove 45-year-old Gabriel Cartagena was the gunman who knocked on a family’s door on Allentown’s Chestnut Street and opened fire on the woman who answered. Ada Ortiz and her 13-month-old grandson she was holding at the time were both were killed.
Ada’s husband, Leandro Ortiz, tearfully testified in court this week, saying he ran to his family’s defense, pushing the gunman out but not before he also was shot once in the chest.
Earlier Friday, the prosecution reminded the jury that Ortiz said he looked the killer in the eye and was certain it was Cartagena.
But the defense went back to Ortiz first telling officials he didn’t know the gunman and saying he only recognized Cartagena once he was brought in.
Gabriel Cartagena is accused of shooting and killing Ada Ortiz and her grandson in December of 2023.
Over the course of the week, prosecutors showed footage from surveillance cameras with various angles leading up to and immediately following the shooting. In some, prosecutors say it’s Cartagena, wearing a light hat. While the lighting at the time of the shooting is too hard to see a person’s face, prosecutors say it looks like the shooter is wearing that same hat under his hood. However, the defense reminded the jury that a witness detective testified that no blood or gun residue was found on the cap they recovered inside Cartagena’s home.
Gabriel Cartagena
Prosecutors also showed footage, while saying Cartagena got into the passenger side of a car they say his brother, Angel Silva, was driving. State police testified gun residue was later found in that car, but the defense reminded the jury that Silva was later arrested for unrelated charges and all that proves is the defendant’s brother had a gun and had gun residue in the car he was driving.
One last question the jurors had was about what happens if they can’t come to an agreement.
The judge said to keep working on it, reminding the jury of their civic duty and the importance to both the defendant and the commonwealth. The judge also said to come back again if they can’t come to an agreement.
Ultimately, the jury found Cartagena not guilty on all counts.