Crime & Safety

Wanted: 17-Year-Old Boy in Lynfield Shooting

An arrest warrant has been issued for Lucas Joseph Cabassa in Sunday's shooting death of 25-year-old Joseph Rodriguez.

A 17-year-old Bethlehem boy shot Joseph Rodriguez in the head during a melee in the city’s Lynfield section early Sunday, according to an arrest warrant.

Lucas Joseph Cabassa of 205 Dewberry Ave. will be charged as an adult with homicide when he is arrested, according to the warrant that was signed Monday night by on-duty District Judge Jackie Taschner of Palmer Township.

According to an affidavit of probable cause, Cabassa fired a shot from a small-caliber handgun into Rodriguez’s left temple at about 3:30 a.m. Sunday. Rodriguez died from the wound at St. Luke’s University Hospital about 13 hours later.

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In the affidavit, police wrote that Rodriguez, 25, was in a fight with a different teen when the shooting happened.

The police version of events appears to be similar to what family members described on Monday.

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Rodriguez confronted one of three teen-agers who had beaten up another teen-ager about 15 minutes earlier, the affidavit said. Rodriguez then began to fight with the boy. At the same time, the teen Rodriguez came to defend also got into a fight with another teen.

In the midst of this, Cabassa pulled out a gun and fired one shot at Rodriguez, police said.

Everyone at the scene—including one adult witness—fled, the affidavit said.

Rodriguez fell to the ground and slumped against a tree near the corner of Argus Court and Argus Street, according to family members who claim that he lay there for 45 minutes before any help arrived.

About 200 of Rodriguez’s friends and family members held a candlelight vigil around that tree on Monday night.

In the warrant, Cabassa is charged with criminal homicide, four counts of recklessly endangering another person, criminal possession of a firearm and possession of a firearm by a minor.

Cabassa has a prior juvenile felony conviction for burglary, the affidavit says.


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