SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA CO. (WOLF) \u2014 A 17-year-old from Wilkes-Barre is being prosecuted as an adult after police say he shot a Scranton man at point-blank range during an early morning fight in the city’s Hill Section.<\/p>\n
Marquese Cortell Richardson Jr., 17, is charged with criminal attempted homicide, aggravated assault, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, carrying a firearm without a license and reckless endangerment in connection with Tuesday’s shooting.<\/p>\n
According to the criminal complaint, Scranton police responded around 3:05 a.m. to the 1800 block of Roselyn Street for reports of shots fired.<\/p>\n
Officers found Ezekiel Soto, 21, of Scranton, lying on the sidewalk with multiple gunshot wounds. Police said Soto had been shot in the left leg, including wounds near his hip and ankle. He was rushed to Geisinger Community Medical Center, where he underwent emergency surgery. Hospital staff told investigators Soto may ultimately require amputation of his leg because of the severity of his injuries.<\/p>\n
At the scene, investigators recovered three 9mm shell casings, approximately 380 live rounds, the bottom plate and spring from a handgun magazine, blood evidence and a pair of gray-and-blue Asics sneakers. Detectives believe the magazine malfunctioned, causing live ammunition to spill into the street.<\/p>\n
According to the affidavit, surveillance video captured the confrontation. Investigators allege the video shows Richardson and another man confronting Soto before the second man threw Soto to the ground. Police say Richardson then walked up to Soto and shot him at point-blank range before fleeing.<\/p>\n
Detectives later encountered Richardson after he checked himself into the hospital with injuries to his legs and arms. According to the complaint, Richardson told officers he lost his shoes while running from the scene after hearing gunshots and was injured when he fell down an embankment.<\/p>\n
During an interview with detectives, Richardson admitted shooting Soto, according to investigators. He told police he feared for his safety and fired a Glock 9mm handgun equipped with an extended magazine. Richardson also allegedly said the magazine broke during the shooting and the firearm fell from his waistband after he fell down the embankment.<\/p>\n
Because Richardson is charged with attempted homicide, prosecutors are pursuing the case in adult court.<\/p>\n
Under Pennsylvania law, juveniles who are at least 15 years old and charged with attempted criminal homicide are excluded from juvenile court jurisdiction and are prosecuted in the Court of Common Pleas.<\/p>\n
Lackawanna County District Attorney Brian Gallagher said the case highlights the need for greater parental supervision.<\/p>\n
“A 17-year-old allegedly carrying a firearm and roaming the streets at 3:00 a.m. is unacceptable. Where were the parents or guardians? Where was the supervision? Parents and guardians need to wake up and start being parents. They need to know where their children are, who they’re with, and what they’re doing. Until we demand greater responsibility and accountability at home, we will continue to see young lives ruined by gun violence. My office will continue to aggressively prosecute violent offenders and use every tool available under Pennsylvania law to protect our communities.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA CO. (WOLF) \u2014 A 17-year-old from Wilkes-Barre is being prosecuted as an adult after police say…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259236,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[178,180,179],"class_list":["post-259235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}