Two 16-year-old boys have been charged as adults after police say they opened fire at a person in the parking lot of an apartment complex in Lancaster Township, placing several bystanders in danger. Authorities say a third juvenile suspect involved in the incident remained at large as of Wednesday night.
Nahkell Brown and Terrance Mitchell were each charged Wednesday with two counts of aggravated assault, five counts of reckless endangerment, shooting into an occupied structure and multiple weapons violations. Both teens are being held without bail at the Lancaster County Youth Intervention Center after District Judge Mary Mongiovi Sponaugle determined they posed a danger to the community.
Police said officers responded to reports of gunfire around 3:50 p.m. Tuesday at the Hawthorne Gardens apartment complex on Dickens Drive near the Conestoga Memorial Park cemetery.
According to charging documents, surveillance footage obtained from a nearby apartment shows a person firing shots from the passenger side of a Kia Soul. Police said the three occupants of the vehicle then exited, and the driver fired additional shots toward another person in the parking lot. Investigators believe between 10 and 20 rounds were fired during the incident, forcing three bystanders nearby to duck for cover.
The suspects then fled in the Kia Soul, which had been reported stolen in Lancaster Township on Feb. 9.
One bullet traveled through the wall of a Hawthorne Gardens apartment and passed within several feet of a person inside the unit. Despite the gunfire, authorities said no injuries were reported.
Police later spotted the vehicle a short time after the shooting and pursued it to the area of Stone Mill Road in Manor Township. The car eventually stopped and the three occupants fled on foot.
Officers chased the suspects and were able to apprehend Brown and Mitchell. Investigators also recovered a firearm nearby that matched the caliber used in the shooting.
Police said the weapon had a serial number but could not be traced to a manufacturer, indicating it was a privately made firearm commonly referred to as a “ghost gun.”
Court records show Brown and Mitchell do not yet have attorneys listed. Their preliminary hearings are scheduled for Feb. 23.
