Since the end of May, three people have been killed. For the first time police put the news conference up in Spanish on their social media pages, to break down any potential language barriers. Lancaster County District Attorney Craig Stedman said they are very close to solving the three cases, but they're still waiting on one or two people to come forward on each case to get their smoking gun.
"We know there are people who know what happened in each one of these cases sitting out there right now, where we have either not talked to, or they have not come forward," Stedman said.
The cases involve the deaths of 22-year-old Tyreek Gardner, who was shot on the 500 block of East Chestnut Street at the end of May, 16-year-old Benjamin Ramos, the McCaskey High School student who was stabbed during a large fight on the 900 block of Fremont Street June 12th, and 44-year-old Anthony Marshall, who was shot on the 600 block of Lafayette Street while protecting his son on Father's Day.
"There are a number of people on the street at the time that saw this or would've seen them clearly running from the shooting at the time and they have not come forward," Stedman said.
Police said they have persons of interest in each one of these cases, but no arrests have been made because key players are unwilling to talk, and even some witnesses have lawyered up to avoid answering questions.
"Being silent allows the lawlessness to continue and for the suspects to further terrorize our neighborhoods," Lancaster Police Chief Jarrad Berkihiser, said.
And though anonymous tips have helped the direction of their investigations, they can't make any charges based off them. Investigators said cooperation is key at this point. Without it, they believe matters will only get worse.
"These aren't numbers," Stedman said. "When you talk about three murders, they're not 1, 2, and 3. They're people. They had their lives ahead of them. Reluctance to cooperate with the police literally allows killers to remain in your neighborhood."
Anyone who may have any information related to this crime is urged to contact Lancaster City Police at 717-735-3300 or Lancaster County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-322-1913.
You can also click the submit button on www.lancasterpolice.com, or text a tip to Crime Stoppers by texting LANCS plus your message to 847411.
