Attempted homicide case advances to county court

WILKES-BARRE – Broken window blinds appeared to be a district judge’s deciding reason on Thursday to send an attempted homicide charge against a West Hazleton man to county court.

The broken blinds in a front window of a West Hazleton home allowed someone to see inside, state police Trooper Alan Pietkiewicz testified during Jose Soto-Vargas’ preliminary hearing in Central Court on Thursday.

Soto-Vargas, 26, was arrested on April 6 and charged with firing at least five shots into an occupied home at 308 E. Green St., police said in the criminal complaint.

Two rounds struck a couch below the window with the broken blinds where Airam Perez was sitting watching television with two friends. Two rounds passed through an interior wall and were found in the kitchen, Pietkiewicz said.

After nearly two hours of testimony Thursday, District Judge Joseph Zola determined prosecutors established a case against Soto-Vargas, sending one count of criminal attempt to commit homicide, three counts each of aggravated assault, simple assault and reckless endangerment and one count each of discharge of firearm into occupied structure and criminal mischief to the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas.

Perez and his friends, Edam Pastrana and Angel Pagana, were not injured in the shooting.

Responding to questions from county Assistant District Attorney Maureen Collins, Perez said he heard a series of pops before he realized someone was shooting. He claimed shards of plastic on the window struck his head as he jumped onto the floor.

Perez said he ran up two flights of stairs to the attic, looked out of a window and saw a man with a pony-tail running away. He identified that man as Soto-Vargas.

Perez testified he is dating Soto-Vargas’ sister and doesn’t get along with him.

Pietkiewicz said he found five .40-caliber shell casings outside the home, and a .40-caliber round about 50 yards away from Soto-Vargas’ home three blocks away on East Broad Street, West Hazleton, where he was arrested.

Soto-Vargas made the unsolicited comment: “It’s not like I killed someone” when he was arrested, Trooper Jere Ustonofski testified.

Soto-Vargas’ attorney, Christopher O’Donnell, said there was no testimony to prove his client intended to kill anyone. “The only evidence is from someone with a grudge looking down from an attic window in the dark,” O’Donnell said.

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Jose Soto-Vargas accused of trying to shoot a man who was dating his sister in April.

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