Police: Heights man fired gel ball gun at parked cars, pedestrians, struck car with bat
SHENANDOAH – A Shenandoah Heights man is facing charges after police say he harassed several people with a gel ball gun and struck someone’s bumper with a baseball bat.
Gil Ortega, 32, of 241 Schuylkill Avenue, is accused of misdemeanor simple assault and summary harassment, disorderly conduct, and criminal mischief.
According to the criminal complaint filed Tuesday by Shenandoah Police Patrolman Matthew Williams, the incident happened on June 27.
Around 6:50pm that day, Williams — off-duty on the way to the police station — saw a Hyundai Sonata stopped in front of him at the red light at Main and Washington Street.
The driver and front seat passenger brandished gel ball guns and began to fire them at a light-colored pickup truck stopped ahead of them. When the light turned green, the sedan followed, continuing to fire gel balls.
Williams wrote down the plate number and proceeded to the station where, 15 minutes later, he was called to 232 West Lloyd Street where the same Hyundai was reportedly causing a disturbance.
There, the occupants had fired gel balls at a pedestrian and several parked vehicles.
Witnesses at the scene corroborated the report.
One of the owners of the parked cars that had been shot at came out of his home and yelled at the Hyundai’s occupants to stop. At that point, a man, later identified as Ortega, got out of the car with a baseball bat and smashed the victim’s rear bumper.
The victim was then shot multiple times with gel balls and the involved vehicles fled the scene.
Several gel balls were present at the scene and the victim was covered in several gel balls.
Williams wrote that he tracked down the registered owner of the vehicle, who said it was being loaned to Ortega, and the victim identified Ortega as one of the shooters and the man with the baseball bat.
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