Police: ‘Gang war’ led to shooting

Fifth teen arraigned for role in incident early New Year’s Day

Five teenagers being charged as adults in a shooting incident on New Year's Day appear to be involved in a small "gang war" between two distinct groups, according to court documents.

During the investigation into the early morning shooting on the 700 block of Fourth Street, police interviewed witnesses and juveniles found at the scene, secured video surveillance, seized cellphones and a gun, collected evidence and obtained warrants for social media accounts in an effort to identify those involved in the dispute. Police also talked with Altoona Area School District police, who provided information about the gang war.

Four teens were arraigned Thursday -- Domenico Pezzuti, Eli Rodgers, Imeen Whitaker and Ezekiel Williams -- while the fifth, Hezikiah Nathaniel Stehley, was arraigned Friday. All face preliminary hearings Feb. 14 before Magisterial District Judge Daniel C. DeAntonio.

All are 16 years old, and all face a variety of charges.

Stehley was arraigned on felony charges of criminal conspiracy attempted homicide, aggravated assault with extreme indifference, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, discharge of a firearm into an occupied structure, criminal use of a communication facility and firearms not to be carried without a license, along with misdemeanor charges of possession of a weapon, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person, disorderly conduct fighting, disorderly conduct hazardous physical offense and discharge of firearms.

Unable to post $150,000 bail, he was remanded to the Blair County Prison.

Pezzuti was remanded to the prison after being unable to post 10% of $100,000 bail following his arraignment on more than a dozen charges, including criminal attempt criminal homicide, criminal attempt aggravated assault and aggravated assault. Court documents show his bail was posted Friday and he was released.

Rodgers was released on unsecured $50,000 bail after his arraignment on more than two dozen charges, including felony aggravated assault and misdemeanor charges of simple assault and recklessly endangering another person among others.

Whitaker was released on $100,000 unsecured bail after his arraignment on a dozen charges that include felony counts of criminal conspiracy attempted homicide, aggravated assault and discharge of a firearm into an occupied structure, along with misdemeanor counts that include simple assault and recklessly endangering another person.

Williams was remanded to the prison after being unable to post $150,000 bail. He faces more than a dozen charges including felony aggravated assault, criminal attempt criminal homicide and misdemeanor charges of simple assault and recklessly endangering another person among others.

Long-standing dispute

Court documents available Friday provided new information about the incident and the ensuing investigation that showed the teens were engaged in a long-standing dispute.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, Altoona police responded to the shots fired report about 3:13 a.m. Jan. 1 in the area of Fourth Street and Seventh Avenue.

A witness told police that a number of gunshots were fired and multiple people were seen fleeing east in the alley toward the Salvation Army.

Police flooded the area and found an obvious bullet hole in a first-floor window of a home on the 700 block of fourth Street. In addition, officers saw two Farberware kitchen knives, one of which appeared to contain a blood smear.

The witness told police that he saw a group of seven or eight males hanging out in the alley behind the Cantina, when another male approached from Seventh Avenue and began firing what he thought was a BB gun or pellet gun toward the group. Immediately after, the witness said he heard two other small caliber guns being fired about six to 12 times.

The witness ran back into his home and called 911, police reported.

The males ran east in the alley, the witness told police, noting they appeared young in age and tall, and were wearing dark clothing and face masks.

Police located multiple juveniles wearing dark clothing in the area of Lloyd Street and East Walton Avenue, and while one juvenile, identified as Whitaker, was stopped at Kettle Street and East Walton Avenue, the others fled north.

Whitaker was wearing dark clothing and carrying a backpack, police reported, adding that a second juvenile, Willliams, was ultimately found hiding under a vehicle in the alley behind the 200 block of East Bell Avenue.

Both teens were taken into custody on curfew violations. A search of Williams turned up a small amount of marijuana and nearly three dozen .22-caliber bullets.

Police secured the area of the shooting and entered the home struck by the bullet in an effort to recover the projectile. The homeowner told police she thought the gunshots were fireworks due to the holiday.

Police said the bullet went through the double pane window, through a pillow, a curtain and into the first pane of a double pane glass border beside the entry door to the kitchen. While the bullet did not make it into the second pane, police were unable to locate the projectile.

Officers found two spent 9mm shell casings on the 300 block of Seventh Avenue Alley, about mid-block, the report states. In addition, a bullet that impacted a dumpster was located.

A review of surveillance footage showed the single male at the corner of the alley shooting a gun multiple times into the alley, the report stated. The male then flees and enters the home police had searched for the bullet.

Police returned to the home and were eventually allowed to search the residence, locating Rodgers in a second floor bedroom. When officers returned to the room for Rodgers' shoes, police saw in the trash can a handgun later identified as a CO2 pellet gun replicated to look like a Glock handgun, the report states.

The pellet gun was seized but police were not given permission to further interview Rodgers at that time, according to court documents.

An interview with Williams was ended when he requested a lawyer, police reported.

Whitaker was the only one who agreed to talk with police and explained that on Dec. 31, he was with "Hezzy," later identified as Stehley, and "Nico," later identified as Pezzuti, court documents state.

The three were playing video games before leaving to pick up a different game at Whitaker's house. Along the way, they met up with three males he did not know, Whitaker said. They all went to the area of the Cantina. Whitaker admitted there was some disturbance involving the other juveniles he was with, but didn't know what the "beef" was about, the report states.

He said another male appeared, said "hey" and started shooting at them. Whitaker told police he saw the gun and immediately started running and some of the other juveniles he was with pulled guns and started shooting as well.

Police seized Whitaker's and Williams' cellphones, noting Whitaker was cooperative and provided the passcode, while Williams refused.

During the investigation, police secured additional camera footage of the shooting area and positively identified Whitaker, Pezzuti and Stehley on security footage at Sheetz, 700 Chestnut Ave., due to their clothing.

Returning to the scene of the shooting the next day, police found a live round for a .32 automatic and a spent shell casing. In addition, police saw a number of bullet holes in the home they had previously searched, and evidence of rounds striking a garage and large storage building.

Police also found graffiti all over the storage building in the alley, noting the graffiti spelled out names and suspected gang identifiers, including "OTF" which allegedly stands for "Only the Family" and "GDK" which allegedly stands for "Gangster Disciple Killers."

Next to those markings were a list of names, with a number of those names directly involved in the New Year's Day shooting, police reported.

There were also a number of letters, such as "LLW," "LLB," "LLD" and "LLV." With the help of the Altoona Area School District, those markings were found to stand for "Long Live Wesley Pierce," "Long Live Brent," "Long Live Devon Pfirsching" and "Long Live Virgil." Court documents state the names associated with "Long Live" have either been killed or died of drug related overdoses.

Officers also worked with Altoona Area School District police to gather additional information on the juveniles, discovering a fight had occurred on Dec. 5 between Rodgers, Williams and an unnamed juvenile. In video footage, Rodgers and the unnamed juvenile can be seen jumping Williams in the hallways, striking him over and over again, court documents state. The school district indicated this went on for weeks, leading to all of them being expelled and enrolled into a cyber school program.

School district police said that based on their knowledge of the students, there is a small "gang war" occurring between two distinct groups.

Police were able to obtain Snapchat usernames and Instagram usernames for some of the juveniles involved as police were told they have been known to brag about possessing a firearm on both social media platforms.

The affidavit of probable cause in the case contains 12 pages of information about the investigation, which involved the discovery of rap songs about guns, gangs, shooting, drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana made by some of the juveniles. Many of the rap lyrics and messages include racial slurs, according to court documents. In addition, many of the social media posts include photographs of guns and gang signs.

An unnamed juvenile who spoke with police said that "Nico" and Rodgers have always had a "beef" and that in the past "Nico" was jumped by Rodgers. "Nico" is identified as Pezzuti, police noted.

As a conclusion, police said the defendants are charged as adults as a result of their actions and severity of their crimes committed on Jan. 1. Evidence suggests that this was a planned act of violence with intent to seriously injure or kill Rodgers. The evidence supports that there are two distinct groups/gangs/facets that have "beef" with one another.

This "beef" appears to have begun and/or escalated as early as December 2023 when Williams was attacked by Rodgers in the halls of the Altoona Area School District.

In addition, the report states that the investigation revealed that there were a number of juveniles involved and/or aware of the planning/intent of the defendants.

"The defendants made it clear in their communication that they follow Rodgers around, keep track of his location and had intentions of killing him," the report states.