Three cousins have been indicted by a grand jury on murder and weapons charges in the shooting death of 34-year-old Emilio Lopez in November.
Roberto Cruz, Jose Rivera and Kenneth Rivera all of Trenton were indicted on murder charges for the December 2012 shooting of Emilio Lopez. TRENTON — Three cousins have been indicted by a grand jury on murder and weapons charges in the shooting death of 34-year-old Emilio Lopez in November.
Roberto Cruz, 32, Jose Rivera and Kenneth Rivera, both 20, were all armed with handguns when they allegedly approached Lopez and surrounded him, Assistant Prosecutor Michelle Gasparian said.
The shooting on Kent Street in the Chambersburg section of the city occurred just before 11:45 p.m. on Nov. 16 and was caught on surveillance tape.
Lopez was shot in the forearm, likely a defensive wound, and also in the back, Gasparian said yesterday.
Police recognized Cruz from the video and when he was apprehended he was wearing a jacket simmilar to the one seen in the tape, she said.
After Cruz was identified, investigators pinpointed his cousins as co-defendants, Gasparian said. Jose Rivera’s mother told police she saw her son in a minivan with two other men around the time of the murder.
All three men remain in the Mercer County Correction Center in lieu of $750,000 bail.
Contact Jenna Pizzi at jpizzi@njtimes.com or (609) 989-5717.
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