Two Lancaster men are headed to trial for a summer shooting in the city that wounded an innocent bystander.
Cesar O. Nunez and Devin Garcia-Rogers each are charged with aggravated assault, conspiracy, illegal possession of firearms, and related counts.
The men were in a confrontation with a man they had “beef” with on Aug. 19 and fired multiple shots in the 600 block of Columbia Avenue, Lancaster city police reported.
Benito Martinez-Centeno, a 54-year-old man who wasn’t involved, was shot in the back and underwent life-saving surgery.
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Police viewed surveillance video from that neighborhood and saw two males running from the shooting scene – one male was holding a gun, the other had what appeared to be a gun in his waistband.
Garcia-Rogers, 19, recently waived a preliminary hearing before District Judge John Winters. Assistant District Attorney Travis S. Anderson, lead prosecutor, said no plea offers or agreements were made in exchange for the waiver.
Nunez, 24, requested a preliminary hearing, during which Lancaster city police Detective Nathan Nickel testified about the surveillance video, according to Anderson.
Nickel also testified of interviewing Nunez’s stepfather after the shooting; the stepfather identified Nunez as a male in the video.
Garcia-Rogers told the stepfather he was involved in a shootout with a man “he had beef with named J.R.,” police reported.
Police found heroin, packaged for sale, inside the vehicle Garcia-Rogers drove from the scene. He is charged with felony drug-dealing.
MEDIA CONTACT: Brett A. Hambright, 717-295-2041; bhambright@co.lancaster.pa.us; Twitter: @BrettHambright