READING, Pa. – Police in Reading are investigating an early morning shooting that sent two people to the hospital.
Police were dispatched to the area of S. 7th and Laurel streets around 2 a.m. Sunday for a report of a fight with shots fired near the El Tubo Bar & Grill.
Arriving officers located three men inside of a sedan at the location with one, later identified as 46-year-old Julio Echevarria, allegedly attempting to hide a gun inside the car’s passenger side compartment.
Police on scene located a male victim shot twice in the arm approximately 30 feet from the car.
Around the same time, police say a female showed up at Reading Hospital with a gunshot wound to the stomach.
The area of S. 7th and Laurel streets, where shots rang out Sunday near the El Tubo Bar & Grill.
Chad Blimline | WFMZ-TV
Investigators reviewing surveillance video from outside El Tubo observed a large fight involving almost 20 individuals just prior to the shooting. Police say Echevarria was one of the main aggressors in the fight.
At some point during the fight, the suspect allegedly pulled a pistol from his waistband and fired multiple shots, striking the victims.
Online court records list Echevarria as in the custody of Berks County Jail after being denied bail.
He’s charged with aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and related offenses.