Three Pagans bikers are on trial this week after a brawl that led to gunfire at a crowded Wawa
Montgomery County prosecutors said the Pagans instigated a shooting that left six people injured. Attorneys for the men said they never fired any shots and blamed two rival bikers for the gunfire.
Three members of the Pagans outlaw motorcycle club are on trial this week for allegedly starting a brawl with a rival club that ended in gunfire at a crowded Wawa in West Norriton.
But as proceedings began Monday morning, attorneys for the Pagans — Joel Hernandez-Martinez, 37, Justin Ray Noll, 34 and George Cwienk III, 51 — argued that their clients were not responsible for the shooting that left six people wounded, including the three men on trial.
Instead, they said in their opening statements that the blame falls squarely on two members of the Unknown Bikers outlaw motorcycle club who opened fire on the group of nine Pagans during a brawl on Oct. 17.
None of the shots fired that night came from the Pagans, the attorneys said, and suggested that the wrong people are on trial.
All three men are charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, and reckless endangerment, and are facing Montgomery County Court Judge Risa Vetri Ferman in a bench trial.
Prosecutors, led by Assistant District Attorney Bradley Deckel, balked at the defense theory of the case, saying the rival group had acted in self-defense. The Pagans, by contrast, he said, made the conscious decision to pull into the Wawa, seeking a confrontation.
They approached the two rival club members from behind, he said, and they had a clear intent to harm them.
After pulling into the Wawa on West Main Street just after 9 p.m., the Pagans encircled the other two bikers and began assaulting them, the prosecutor said. They were after the rival gang’s “cuts,” the logo of their motorcycle club sewn into their denim vests, according to Deckel.
The Unknown Bikers then opened fire on the Pagans with two 9mm handguns.
The Unknown Bikers, David Zimmerman and Robert Statzel, fired more than a dozen shots, one of which struck Zimmerman, according to prosecutors. Two bystanders, a man putting air in his car’s tires and a Wawa employee out on a smoke break, were shot by stray bullets.
The employee, Marybeth Harper, testified Monday that the Pagans were the clear aggressors in the situation. They knocked Zimmerman to the ground and “beat on him” as he lay prone, she said.
Harper said she ran toward the store’s front door when she saw the fight break out, and heard a gunshot as she was about to go inside.
Before she could open the door, she felt a searing pain in her right side. It felt, she said, like she had been struck by a baseball bat. She knew soon after that she had been shot.
Harper testified that she did not see the Unknown Bikers pull out any weapons, an account that the Pagans’ defense attorneys said contradicted her initial statement to police that she didn’t know who was responsible for the shooting.
Prosecutors initially charged all nine members of the Pagans involved in the fight with aggravated assault and related crimes.
Two of them, Luke Higgins and Eric Dixon, had their charges dismissed earlier this year by Ferman. Two others, Jason Lawless and George Hripto, pleaded guilty to simple assault and conspiracy and were sentenced to time served.
The remaining two, Manuel Baez-Santos and Erik Rosenberger, pleaded guilty last week to aggravated assault and conspiracy, and are awaiting sentencing.
This week’s trial is expected to last through Thursday.
