ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Authorities have arrested and charged a fourth person in connection with the 2024 shooting death of a city man at Fountain Park.
Joel Garcia-Paulino, 22, was arrested Friday and faces charges of first-degree criminal homicide, criminal conspiracy to commit homicide in the first degree and tampering with evidence.
He is being held in Lehigh County Jail without bail.
On June 1, 2024, Allentown police responded to a shooting at Fountain Park on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. There, officers found 25-year-old Angel Martinez-Velez dead on the basketball court.
Martinez-Velez died from multiple gunshot wounds. The Lehigh County Coroner ruled his death a homicide.
Witnesses reported two suspects, both described as shooting at Martinez-Velez and fleeing in a dark colored Honda Accord.
Allentown city cameras recorded two vehicles — a blue Honda Accord and a white Infiniti traveling behind it — fleeing Fountain Park at a high rate of speed and appearing to travel together, according to a news release.
Investigators found the white Inifiniti was registered to Carlos Nathaniel Landesta-Agramonte, who lived on East Court Street in Allentown. Authorities linked Landesta-Agramonte and Grelvis Estevez-Cabrera, of Bethlehem, to one vehicle — the white Infiniti.
Police later identified Garcia-Paulino as the suspect seen exiting the driver's seat of the blue Honda Accord after it arrived at the East Court Street home.
City surveillance cameras show Garcia-Paulino helping the other defendants remove items from the cars after the shooting, according to the Lehigh County District Attorney's Office.
A release said a witness told police he was present at the Allentown apartment, where plans for the shooting were discussed among several people including Garcia-Paulino, Estevez-Cabrera and Landesta-Agramonte.
Landesta-Agramonte pleaded guilty last month to third degree charges of murder and conspiracy to commit murder. He is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 25 before Judge Thomas M. Caffrey.
Last week, a jury found Estevez-Cabrera guilty of all charges, including criminal homicide, first degree murder and criminal conspiracy to commit criminal homicide and a misdemeanor charge of tampering with physical evidence. He will serve life in prison without parole.
A third defendant, 23-year-old Wilmer Esquiel Marte-Tavarez, of Lords Valley in Pike County, is awaiting trial. He faces charges of homicide, conspiracy to commit homicide and tampering with evidence, the district attorney’s office said.