Adrian Oswaldo Sura Reyes is a twenty four year old man from Pennsylvania who has been charged with 2 murders following a bizarre incident. According to police reports Adrian Oswaldo Sura Reyes would run into a large group of people killing one and injuring seventeen more. Adrian Oswaldo Sura Reyes would then flee the scene and head to a residence where he would beat his mother to death using a hammer. According to early reports Adrian Oswaldo Sura Reyes was upset with his mother over money. Now Adrian Oswaldo Sura Reyes is facing the death penalty.
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A Pennsylvania man is facing the death penalty after state police say he intentionally plowed his car into a community fundraiser, killing one person and injuring 17 others, before bludgeoning his mother to death.
Pennsylvania State Police say Adrian Oswaldo Sura Reyes, 24, drove into a crowd of about 75 people Saturday night, as they attended a fundraiser for the families of 10 people who died in a recent house fire.
An unidentified 50 year old woman was killed in the crash, and 17 others were injured.
Authorities say Adrian Oswaldo Sura Reyes then allegedly fled the scene, but was later spotted bludgeoning another woman to death in nearby Nescopeck. That woman has since been identified as Reyes’ mother, Rosa Reyes, 56.
Charging documents say he crashed into the fundraiser because he was ‘frustrated’ with his mother following a dispute about money issues before he killed her.
Adrian Oswaldo Sura Reyes was pictured being taken into custody early Sunday morning, and said ‘sorry’ as he was being led into a police vehicle, the Times Leader reports after allegedly confessing to bludgeoning his mother ‘four or five times.’
He is now charged with two counts of homicide and is being held at the Columbia County Correctional Facility without bail.
Adrian Oswaldo Sura Reyes is due back in court for a preliminary hearing on August 29. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.
Meanwhile, Geisinger Hospital has confirmed to ABC News that it was providing care for more than 15 patients involved in the attack at the fundraiser, including four who were in critical condition on Sunday.
Another three were taken to other hospitals, and had either been treated and released or were still being evaluated.
According to charging documents obtained by the Daily Beast,Adrian Oswaldo Sura Reyes admitted to police that he had bludgeoned his mother in the head ‘four or five times’ with a hammer.
He allegedly said he was tired of fighting with her about money and other issues and ‘wanted to be done with it.’
Adrian Oswaldo Sura Reyes allegedly explained that he had gotten into an argument with his mother earlier that night, and felt ‘extremely frustrated’ as he drove his car from his home in Nescopeck to Berwick, where she lived.
Then, as he drove past a restaurant called Intoxicology Department at around 6.15pm, he noticed the community members standing in the parking lot, circled back around and hit the gas, the charging documents allege.
The restaurant was holding a day-long event to raise money for the families of those killed in a fire earlier this month.
Just about six minutes later, police report, they received a call about a second car crash in neighboring Nescopeck, where a man was beating a woman with a hammer.
Police say they arrived on the scene and found the woman dead, and arrested the suspected killer. The vehicle in that incident matched the description of the one that had plowed through the crowd in Berwick moments earlier.
Adrian Oswaldo Sura Reyes had previously been arrested for another altercation with his mother on December 26, 2020, when the two got into an argument over a cellphone, the Daily Beast reports.
According to a Berwick Police Department report and court records from the time, Reyes snatched the phone from his mother’s hand and hit her in the face with it.
He pleaded guilty to an assault and harassment charge, and was sentenced to 12 months probation — which only ended last month.
Officials now say they have no reason to believe Reyes is a suspect in the fatal fire that killed 10 people and 13 dogs on August 5, the cause of which remains under investigation.
In a Facebook post, Intoxicology Department, the restaurant where the fundraiser was being held, said they will close their doors until further notice.
‘Today was an absolute tragedy. We will be closed until further notice. Please respect our privacy while we grieve and try to process the events that occurred. Thank you.’
Saturday’s victims were gathered at Intoxicology Department to raise money the families of those killed in the deadly fire in nearby Nescopeck on August 5.
It’s unclear what started the blaze in the home where 14 people lived, but Pennsylvania State Police said they had launched a ‘complex criminal investigation’.
State police said seven adults ranging from late teens to age 79 were killed along with children aged five, six and seven.
All 10 died of smoke inhalation, according to the Luzerne County coroner’s office.
A ruling on the manner of death – classifying the deaths as accidents or homicides – is pending the results of the state police investigation into the fire, officials said
The county’s district attorney, Sam Sanguedolce, said a preliminary investigation suggests the fire broke out on the front porch at around 2.30am.
Three people were able to escape the blaze, which destroyed the structure. The cause remains under investigation.
Nescopeck is a small town on the Susquehanna River, about 20 miles southwest of Wilkes-Barre.
One volunteer firefighter arrived to battle the blaze only to discover the victims were his own family, authorities said.
Harold Baker, a volunteer firefighter in the town of Nescopeck, said the 10 victims included his son, daughter, father-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, three grandchildren and two other relatives.
He said his two children and the other young victims were visiting their aunt and uncle’s home for swimming and other summertime fun.
He said 13 dogs were also in the two-story home, but didn’t say if he knew whether any survived.
‘All I wanted to do was go in there and get to these people, my family. That’s all that I was thinking about, getting in to them,’ Baker told the Associated Press.
Baker grabbed a hose and air pack, and started pouring water on the fire, desperate to make his way inside and calling out to his son. His chief realized whose house it was, and fellow firefighters escorted Baker back to the firehouse.
Baker said the address initially given for the call was a neighboring house. He realized it was his family members’ residence as the firetruck approached. He said his unit was the first on scene, and the house was already engulfed in flames.
‘There wasn’t nothing we could’ve done to get in there. We tried, but we couldn’t get in,’ said Baker, 57, who’s been a firefighter for 40 years.
His son, 19-year-old Dale Baker, had followed both of his parents into the fire service, joining when he was 16. Dale was among those killed in the blaze.
‘He said it all his life, he was just going to be like his dad,’ Harold Baker said.
Heidi Knorr, the Nescopeck Volunteer Fire Company secretary, called Dale Baker ‘such a fun-loving soul. He just loved life.’
As state police continued their probe, the first two funerals were held Friday afternoon, with mourners gathering at a funeral home in Mansfield to remember Ariana Trout, 7, and her brother, 5-year-old Bradley Trout.
Ariana ‘loved learning about styling hair and makeup,’ according to her obituary, while Bradley enjoyed spending time at the library and playing Pokemon GO. He would have turned 6 on Thursday.
More funerals were scheduled for Sunday and Monday, including a joint service for 19-year-old volunteer firefighter Dale Baker and his sister, Star Baker, 22.
