Two children playing with kittens shot dead in targeted incident in Pennsylvania

The day afteryet another drama involving children and a firearm, a new tragedy that claimed the lives of two brothers aged 8 and 9 was reported Thursday in the American press. Tuesday night in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, Jesus and Sebastian were playing with their kittens in their yard when gunshots rang out. Both children were killed, as was Joshua Lugo-Perez, a 19-year-old who lived in the same house as them but was not related.

A 33-year-old neighbor was hit by a stray bullet, but his life is not in danger, according to the «Lebanon Daily News». Jesus and Sebastian were the victims of what the authorities call a “targeted incident”, meaning that they were not targeted by the fire. According to Bret Fisher, local police chief, Joshua Lugo-Perez was the real target, due to an “old dispute”. According to the findings of the police on the spot, at least 27 shots were fired with two different weapons.

Two arrests

“As a mum, I can’t say how heartbroken I am for the families. I can’t imagine what they are going through,” said Sherry Capello, mayor of Lebanon. The investigation is ongoing, but two young men aged 22 and 16 were arrested on Wednesday. They were charged with three counts of criminal homicide, aggravated assault, criminal association and weapons offences. A third unidentified suspect is still in the wild.

“Younger and younger individuals are picking up handguns and committing senseless shootings. (…) As long as the criminal does not measure the consequences of the suppression of a life, that is to say spending the rest of his life locked up in a cell, nothing will change”, lamented the prosecutor Pier Hess Graf at a press conference on Thursday.