WHITEHALL TWP., Pa. — A third person has been charged in the fatal shooting of a man in a parking lot off MacArthur Road last month.
Brenda Rodriguez, 51, of Palmerton, Carbon County, is charged with criminal solicitation/criminal homicide and conspiracy-aggravated assault in the Dec. 7 shooting death of her husband, Hector Manuel Garcia Gomez, 46, of Palmerton.
Rodriguez was arraigned Tuesday night before District Judge Mark A. McCants and awaits a preliminary hearing before McCants at 10:45 a.m. Feb. 3 in Lehigh County Central Court.
Martinez-Ramos faces charges of homicide and aggravated assault.
Shortly after, Liz Marie Pacheco, 37, of Allentown, also was charged with homicide, conspiracy to commit homicide, aggravated assault-attempting to cause serious bodily injury and conspiracy to commit aggravated assault — all first-degree felonies.
Police said Pacheco lived with Martinez-Ramos.
Rodriguez told police her husband was having an affair with Martinez-Ramos's and Pacheco's neighbor, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed in the case.
'Slow to normal walking pace'
Garcia Gomez died from gunshot wounds to the torso in a business parking lot off MacArthur Road.
Officers found Garcia Gomez with multiple gunshot wounds to his abdomen and he was taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest, where he was pronounced dead, the release said.
"As Garcia Gomez left the store and began to get inside his car, Martinez-Ramos' vehicle parked behind him and multiple gunshots were fired at Garcia Gomez from inside the suspect vehicle."Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin Holihan
The affidavit of probable cause said video surveillance showed Garcia Gomez’s vehicle arriving at the store.
Garcia Gomez went into the store for several minutes as Rodriguez stayed inside the car and called Pacheco, authorities said.
Martinez-Ramos’s vehicle pulled into the parking lot three minutes after Rodriguez called Pacheco, court documents state.
As Garcia Gomez left the store and began to get inside his car, Martinez-Ramos' vehicle parked behind him and multiple gunshots were fired at Garcia Gomez from inside the suspect vehicle, Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin Holihan said.
The suspect vehicle fled, but the license plate on the vehicle was obtained by a license plate reader and came back to a different vehicle owned by Martinez-Ramos, according to a news release.
"This is going to get worse — [Garcia Gomez] is a dead man!"Liz Marie Pacheco
Rodriguez remained in the car for nearly a half-minute after her husband ran into the Loco Hot Deals store after being shot, according to the affidavit of probable cause.
When Rodriguez got out of the vehicle, she fixed her clothing and hair, picked up her husband's dropped items, then "at a slow to normal walking pace" followed her husband inside, court documents state.
'Flowers for the dead'
Garcia Gomez and Martinez-Ramos fought outside a Whitehall Township AutoZone on Dec. 4, three days before the shooting, court documents state.
Pacheco that day warned the woman with whom Garcia Gomez was having an affair that Martinez-Ramos was extremely angry.
"This is going to get worse — [Garcia Gomez] is a dead man!" Pacheco said, according to court documents.
Rodriguez also told police that Martinez-Ramos assaulted her husband in October.
The caption translates to "Flowers for the dead."Homicide suspect Liz Pacheco, on her WhatsApp
Police pulled messages from September through Dec. 7 from Pacheco's cellphone.
Text records show that on Oct. 7 Rodriguez contacted Pacheco in an attempt to set up a confrontation between her husband and Martinez-Ramos.
Police recovered more than 2,000 deleted text messages between Pacheco and Martinez-Ramos.
After the Dec. 4 altercation at AutoZone, Pacheco told Martinez-Ramos three times that "he needs to kill" Garcia Gomez, court documents state.
Multiple messages between them included Garcia Gomez's location and information about his vehicle and companions.
Less than eight hours before the shooting, Pacheco posted a photo on her WhatsApp account showing a bouquet of flowers beside Martinez-Ramos's Glock 19 handgun and a caption reading, "Flores para los muertos."
The caption translates to "Flowers for the dead."
Martinez-Ramos told police he used that weapon to kill Garcia Gomez.
