LANCASTER — A 35-year-old Lancaster man will spend the rest of his life in prison after pleading guilty to shooting two brothers — killing one of them — in a dispute outside a Lancaster bar last year, according to the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office.
Alexander Cruz, 35, admitted to killing Marcus McCain outside O’Halloran’s Pub on Fairview Avenue on Feb. 9, 2018.
Lancaster County Judge Donald Totaro sentenced Cruz to an additional 20 to 40 years in prison for wounding McCain’s brother during the “minor, petty dispute” inside the bar, which occurred on Feb. 9, 2018. The dispute involved the McCain brothers and a friend of Cruz’s. After the group was ejected from the bar, Cruz pulled a .380-caliber pistol and shot Marcus McCain several times in the torso. McCain’s brother was wounded in the lower body.
Cruz pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, attempted homicide, and related gun charges in exchange for the life sentence. Prosecutors had filed notice of intent to seek the death penalty had the case gone to trial, the District Attorney’s Office said.
“This just makes absolutely no sense,” Judge Totaro said while ordering sentence. “You are never going to see the outside of a prison cell.”
