A Shenandoah Heights man has been charged with assault and harassment after an incident involving a baseball bat and gel ball gun.
According to court documents, Gil Ortega, 32, of Shenandoah Heights, West Mahanoy Township, has been charged with simple assault, harassment, disorderly conduct, and criminal mischief following an incident that occurred on June 27, 2024, at 6:50 PM.
Investigating Officer Matt Williams wrote in the affidavit that on that date, he was off duty, heading south on Main Street in his personal vehicle to begin his shift at the Shenandoah Police Station.
While stopped at the red light at North Main Street and Washington Street, he saw a Hyundai Sonata stopped in front of him. While waiting for the traffic signal to turn green, Williams saw the driver and passenger brandish Orbeez guns.
An Orbeez gun, also known as a gel blaster or gel ball gun, is a toy firearm that shoots small, water-absorbent polymer beads called Orbeez. These beads are non-toxic, expand when soaked in water, and burst upon impact. Orbeez guns typically resemble real firearms in appearance.
The two then started to fire the Orbeez guns toward a pickup truck stopped in front of them at the intersection. When the light turned green, they followed the pickup truck, continuing to fire the Orbeez guns out the window.
Williams followed the vehicle to obtain its registration before heading to the police station to begin his shift and follow up on the registration.
A short time later, around 7:15 PM, Williams received a dispatch to respond to West Lloyd Street for a report of a disturbance involving two vehicles, a pickup truck, and a sedan.
Williams responded and spoke with a man and woman who reported that the occupants of the pickup truck and sedan had stopped in the 200 block of West Lloyd Street and began firing Orbeez guns at parked vehicles.
During the incident, while firing the guns at a vehicle, a resident exited a home and began yelling at them to stop. An occupant of the sedan then got out of the vehicle, wielded a baseball bat, and struck the bumper of a parked vehicle. The man wielding the bat was reported to have a neck tatto.
The resident became angrier, and the group began to shoot him with the Orbeez guns before fleeing.
Williams ran the registration of the sedan involved in the incident and found it to be registered to Magdelin Reyes, who lives in Hazleton. Reyes told Williams she has two vehicles and that the one involved in the incident was being loaned to her boyfriend, Gil Ortega. Ortega also has a neck tattoo that matched the description of the suspect.
Williams made contact with Ortega over the phone in an attempt to interview him. After agreeing to meet on July 5th, Ortega failed to show up or reschedule the interview.
On Tuesday, July 9, 2024, Shenandoah Police filed the above charges against Ortega for the incident.