WILKES-BARRE — The father of 18-year-old Rolando K. Cepeda, who was mortally shot in front of their auto-repair garage in Hazle Township in 2023, testified he chased and fired one or two shots at the two gunmen.
Rolando Cepeda Sr. was one of three witnesses to testify during the preliminary hearing for Eliezer Santana, 20, held before District Judge James Dixon at the Luzerne County Courthouse on Friday.
Cepeda Sr. said he was standing inside his garage, Performance Auto Repair, on West 23rd St., Hazle Township, as his son sat on a stool just outside the bay door on April 14, 2023. He said he heard gunshots, grabbed his firearm, and chased after two masked men, shooting one or two shots while being shot at himself.
Cepeda was flown to Lehigh Valley Hospital – Cedar Crest, where he died the next day. A second shooting victim, Carlos D. Jorge, survived.
After a nearly three-hour proceeding, Dixon determined Assistant District Attorneys James L. McMonagle and Brian A. Coleman established a case against Santana, sending an open count of criminal homicide and aggravated assault to the Court of Common Pleas.
The other alleged gunman, Reymer Gonzales, 21, is facing criminal homicide, aggravated assault and criminal conspiracy charges in county court, while the suspected getaway driver, Ismael Valdez Batista, 21, previously pled guilty to criminal attempt to commit criminal homicide.
Cepeda Sr. said he often took his son to the auto-repair garage to keep him out of trouble. When he heard the gunshots, Cepeda Sr. testified he grabbed his firearm, chased after the gunman while firing one or two shots, while the gunmen fired shots at him.
When questioned by Santana’s attorneys, Theron J. Solomon and Nicole M. Psaila, Cepeda Sr. said he could not identify the gunmen as they wore ski masks.
Valdez Batista, whose plea agreement requires him to cooperate with prosecutors, testified he drove his Honda Accord from his Mahanoy City, Schuylkill County, home to pick up Santana and Gonzales to deal with a “gang beef” with Cepeda. As they canvassed the Hazle Township neighborhood, Valdez Batista said they spotted Cepeda at the auto-repair garage, and he parked a distance away as Santana and Gonzales got out of his Honda wearing ski masks.
Valdez Batista said he also got out, but stayed near his vehicle when he heard approximately 10 gunshots before Santana and Gonzales returned to the car and they sped away.
A day later, Valdez Batista testified he overheard Santana telling his mother he needed to “book a flight to leave the (United) states.”
Santana was apprehended in Sabana de La Mar, Dominican Republic, in early June 2026, and extradited to Luzerne County on the criminal homicide warrant.
On cross-examination by Solomon and Psaila, Valdez Batista admitted it was his suggestion they kill Cepeda and make the body disappear, as Santana and Gonzales had initially planned to assault Cepeda in what he described as a “gang beef.”
Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Kenneth Santos testified to surveillance footage of the deadly shooting.
Gonzales’ trial is scheduled for late October before Court of Common Pleas Judge David W. Lupas.
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