Route 72 double homicide connected to Berks County bank robbery

Flowers and items left near the scene of a shooting on Route 72 in Cornwall Borough that took the lives of two Reading men April 9, 2018. (Merriell Moyer/The Lebanon Daily News)

After the man believed to have shot and killed to men along Route 72 was brought to Lebanon County to face charges Tuesday, police revealed the bizarre details at the scene and the extensive investigation for what is believed to be the first double homicide in Cornwall’s history

The man who allegedly shot and killed two men while they were all traveling in a vehicle on Route 72 in Cornwall Borough April 9 was fleeing to Pittsburgh after robbing a Berks County bank, according to the criminal complaint against him.

Gilberto Torres-Reyes, 37, first robbed a bank in Wyomissing Borough, Berks County earlier in the day April 9. He was on his way to Pittsburgh when he his alleged to have shot Alexis Perez-Garcia and Jelson Dejesus-Ortiz from the back seat of the vehicle the three men were traveling in on Route 72 at the Route 322 overpass in Cornwall Borough, according to the criminal complaint against Torres-Reyes.

Gunshots reported

The incident was initially reported as a crash, but witnesses reported shots fired at the scene and two subjects down on the roadway, according to the criminal complaint.

A Cornwall Borough police officer arrived on scene at 11:18 p.m. and found a green Toyota Camry station wagon crashed into the center divider of Route 72. 

The officer saw two men, later identified as Perez-Garcia and Dejesus-Ortiz, lying in the roadway with bleeding wounds. A .22 caliber handgun was lying on the roadway just north of the crash.

One witness followed the green Camry off the turnpike and onto Route 72 when he heard what he believed were gunshots and saw the Camry swerve to the left, then to the right before striking a stop sign.

The vehicle continued through a grassy area near the Route 322 overpass before crashing into the center divider on Route 72. The witness saw one of the victims exit the front passenger side door of the Camry and run south where he collapsed on the roadway while another man ran north from the vehicle.

Who was trying to get in that woman’s car?

One witness told investigators she saw lights from an ambulance or other emergency vehicle ahead of her on Route 72 near the scene of the incident and slowed her vehicle down as she approached.

A man approached her driver side door and began banging on the window and yelling for help.

“I need help,” is what the man said to her, she later told police. He went on to say “People have been shot. Two people have been shot.”

When she asked the man where this happened he pointed to the north, away from the scene. Then he began frantically trying to open her door.

She described the man as Hispanic, with a bad teardrop tattoo under his left eye, 30 to 40 years of age, with a medium build and wearing a dark sweatshirt and skull cap.

Bullets, cash, a cap and a cigarette 

Forensics show Perez-Garcia died from a single gunshot wound to the back from a .22 caliber bullet. The bullet traversed from his right shoulder blade to the left front of his body.

Dejesus-Ortiz died from two gunshot wounds, both from .22 caliber bullets. One bullet entered the left side of his nose and traversed to the right side of the skull behind the ear while the second bullet entered the back through the left shoulder blade and traversed to the right center of the chest.

All three bullets were recovered from the bodies of the two men. There were $400 in cash found on each of the two men.

Police searched the Toyota Camry April 10 and found a man’s shoe, a baseball cap and a stack of $5 bills totaling $160 in the back of the car. A partially smoked cigarette, an Xgody mobile phone and three .22 caliber casings were also found in the back seat of the vehicle.

How we know he bought a ride

Gilberto Torres-Reyes (Lebanon County Correctional Facility)

Another witness told police she knew the identity of the person who robbed the Wyomissing bank — Riverfront Federal Credit Union on Museum Road, according to a 69 News