Crime News

Death Penalty Will Be Sought in SouthSide Killing

Prosecutors file notice that they will seek capital punishment for Rene Figueroa, who is accused of killing Yolanda Morales outside Puerto Rican Beneficial Society in December.

  Prosecutors are pursuing the death penalty for an Allentown man charged with killing a Bethlehem woman outside of the Puerto Rican Beneficial Society in December. A “notice of aggravating circumstances” was filed in Northampton County Court on Thursday, putting Rene Figueroa’s attorney on notice that the death penalty will be sought if he is convicted of first-degree homicide, said District Attorney John Morganelli. According to Bethlehem police, Figueroa, 32, shot 23-year-old Yolanda Morales to death during a bloody gun battle on E. Third Street that erupted as the club emptied after 2 a.m. on Dec. 2. One of the “aggravating circumstances” detailed in the notice filed Thursday by Deputy District Attorney Terence Houck is the allegation …

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Crime News

Puerto Rican Club Alleged Killer to Stand Trial

Allentown man accused of killing Bethlehem woman outside of SouthSide club ordered to stand trial. Charges also upheld against other shooter in bloody E. Third St. melee.

  An Allentown man accused of shooting and killing a Bethlehem woman outside the Puerto Rican Beneficial Society was ordered to face trial in Northampton County Court, according to The Morning Call. Rene Figueroa, 32, of 936 W. Gordon St., had his case bound over for court in a preliminary hearing before District Judge Nancy Matos-Gonzalez on Monday, even though a key prosecution witness could not correctly identify him in a courtroom, the newspaper reported. Charges were also upheld against Javier Rivera-Alvarado, 38, of 782 Mohawk St., Allentown, who is also accused of being an aggressor in a bloody gun battle that erupted on Dec. 2 in an E. Third Street parking lot that left Yolanda Morales dead and four men wounded. According to police…

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Bail Denied for One Southside Shooting Suspect, $2.5 Million for Other

Bail is denied for Allentown man charged with homicide in death of Yolanda Morales.

Bail Denied for One Southside Shooting Suspect; $2.5 Million for Other

Bail is denied for Allentown man charged with homicide in death of Yolanda Morales.

Two suspects in the bloody gun battle that left a Bethlehem woman dead and five men injured on Dec. 2 in the city's Southside were arraigned today (Dec. 10) before District Magistrate Nancy Matos Gonzalez. Bail was denied for Rene Figueroa, 32, of 936 W. Gordon St., Allentown, who faces charges of one count of homicide, two counts of attempted criminal homicide and a slew of other charges in connection to the gun fight outside the Puerto Rican Beneficial Society.  Bail was set at $2.5 million for Javier Rivera-Alvarado, 38, of 782 Mohawk St., Allentown, who is charged with three counts of attempted criminal homicide and other charges.  The suspects were in wheelchairs as they were transported from St. Luke's University Hospital in Fountain…

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David Delp

3:34 pm on Wednesday, February 27, 2013

You're right Lewis but, it comes down to the fact that they are cowards to begin with.   more ›

2 Allentown Men Charged in SouthSide Shootings

Rene Figueroa, 32, is charged with killing Yolanda Morales. Javier Rivera-Alvarado, 38, is charged with firing multiple shots in deadly, chaotic melee.

  As shots rang out in a South Bethlehem parking lot early Sunday, Yolanda Morales put herself between one of two gunmen and his apparent intended target, her boyfriend Angel Figueroa. So Rene Figueroa, who is not related to Angel, shot Morales once in the chest before firing at Angel Figueroa, according to Bethlehem Police. On Friday, as he lay in the intensive care unit of St. Luke’s University Hospital in Fountain Hill, Rene Figueroa was arraigned on a charge of criminal homicide in Morales’ death. Rene Figueroa, 32, of 936 W. Gordon St., Allentown, also faces numerous other felony counts – including receiving stolen property – stemming from the bloody gun battle that took place along E. Third Street last weekend. The gun Rene Figueroa …

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Mary Genao

8:43 am on Friday, December 14, 2012

Armed, we do take offense Latinos that are no upstanding citizens. Actually, I take offense to anyone to acts that way. The previous poster wrote "all animals, all the time." He was pointing out the obvious?   more ›

Anti-Violence Vigil in SouthSide Draws 50

Candlelight vigil for peace held on street where gun battle left one woman dead and five others hurt six nights ago.

  More than 50 people stood in a parking lot along E. Third Street in South Bethlehem Friday night to hold a candlelight vigil for peace, to speak out against gun violence on city streets and to pray for the young woman who was gunned down a few feet away six nights ago. “We need to start healing as a community,” said Guillermo Lopez, a longtime Bethlehem community activist and one of the event’s organizers. “Yolanda Morales died much too young.” Bethlehem Police on Friday charged Rene Figueroa, 32, of Allentown, with homicide in the death of Morales, a 23-year-old woman from Bethlehem. Police also charged Javier Rivera-Alvarado, 38, also of Allentown, who is also accused of firing a gun during the melee. An argument between two men inside…

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Crime News

Slain Woman Mourned on Randolf Road

Memorial of candles and flowers placed outside of home of Yolanda Morales, 23, who was killed in Sunday morning gunfight in South Bethlehem.

  A memorial of flowers and candles has been placed alongside Nativity statues of Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus outside of the public housing unit on Randolf Road where Yolanda Morales lived. Inside, Yolanda’s mother – apparently surrounded by grieving friends and family – was still in shock and did not wish to talk to reporters, according to a cousin of the slain 23-year-old who answered the door Tuesday afternoon. Morales was mortally wounded early Sunday by one of 30 bullets fired during a chaotic gunfight on E. Third Street outside the Puerto Rican Beneficial Society, where a minor confrontation spilled out into the street and escalated to a gun battle, according to Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli. Morales’ …

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Crime News

DA: Minor Incident in Club Led to Deadly Gun Fight

Yolanda Morales, 23, followed confrontation out onto E. Third Street before she was hit by gunshot. Police trying to sort out who is responsible for Bethlehem woman's death.

  A chaotic and deadly gun battle on E. Third Street apparently began with a minor confrontation between two groups of people who did not know each other before Saturday night, according to Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli. By the time it ended, about 30 bullets had been fired, a young woman was dead and five men were wounded – one perhaps seriously enough to be paralyzed, according to the DA, who held a news conference Monday to explain what law enforcement knows about the shootout outside of the Puerto Rican Beneficial Society that claimed the life of Yolanda Morales. Morales, 23, of 1249 Randolf Road, Bethlehem, died of a gunshot wound to her body, according to Lehigh County Coroner Scott M. Grim, who ruled the …

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1 Woman Dead, 5 Men Wounded in Shootout Outside Puerto Rican Club

Yolanda Morales, 23, killed in early Sunday shootout on E. Third St. DA says suspects are among the five others who were hospitalized with gunshot wounds.