READING, Pa. – Police in Reading announced an arrest in a shooting that took the life of a 58-year-old woman.
32-year-old Jeremiah Santiago of Cumru Twp. is charged with first and third-degree murder, aggravated assault and firearms offenses.
Just before midnight on August 3, 2023, police were dispatched to S. 10th Street for a report of a female shot in the face inside the front bedroom of a first-floor apartment.
Investigators found evidence that the shots came from outside the residence and police recovered nine shell casings from the sidewalk.
Surveillance video recovered from the time immediately before the shooting showed two males heading east on the 900 block of Penn Street before heading south on 10th Street towards the shooting scene. Police say one of the men was wearing a “shiesty” type mask to cover his face and had a ponytail sticking out of the back of it.
As police technicians were processing the scene the following afternoon, investigators observed a male with a ponytail similar to the one in the video walking in their direction.
Jeremiah Santiago
Berks County Sheriff’s Office
“Jeremiah Santiago was seen in the area while the police were investigating the next day, and the police actually did confront him,” said Berks County District Attorney John Adams.
Police stopped Santiago near 9th & Penn streets and asked him if he’d talk to them. He agreed, and allegedly told police he was at a female’s residence on the night of the shooting and had not gone outside.
Through video surveillance, investigators determined that Santiago and the other male came from a residence on S. 9th Street before the shooting and returned to the address after.
Police say the victim’s husband admitted purchasing crack cocaine from the other male shortly before the shooting.
According to court documents, during a call to an inmate at Berks County Jail 3 days after the shooting, Santiago allegedly discussed the incident and admitted he “hit an innocent bystander.”
“We interpreted [he] had been involved in a shooting,” Adams said of Santiago’s conversation.
On October 31, 2023, the family of shooting victim Tina Grier informed police that she passed away. An autopsy determined Grier died due to complications from the gunshot wound.
Santiago was denied bail and committed to Berks County Jail.