Teen charged in Pottstown murder will face a county judge for the broad-daylight shooting

The son of a prominent Pottstown advocate for homeless services will face a county judge for allegedly killing a man who previously experienced homelessness.

Thomas Niarhos, 16, has been charged as an adult with first- and third-degree murder and gun offenses in the November shooting death of Jeremiah Waylon Hawkins during a tense argument last fall outside the Charles W. Dickinson Transportation Center in downtown Pottstown.

The news, given Niarhos’ family connections, quickly went viral and made international headlines.

Witnesses told police Niarhos approached Hawkins, 39, as he walked by the train station just after noon, calling him a rapist and accusing him of sexually assaulting Niarhos’ 14-year-old girlfriend, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest.

Magisterial District Judge Scott Palladino approved all of the charges after a preliminary hearing Tuesday in a courtroom just a few hundred feet from where the fatal shooting took place. Niarhos will remain in custody, denied bail, until his arraignment in county court in April.

Chief Public Defender Christine Lara, whose office is representing Niarhos, declined to comment on the case, saying onlythat the situation was “devastating to the family and the community.”

Assistant District Attorney Lauren Marvel said the evidence in the case was clear.

“It will show that the defendant made a very deliberate decision to take someone’s life, and that life had value,” Marvel said.

Niarhos is the son of Tom Niarhos, the executive director of Pottstown Beacon of Hope, a nonprofit that operates an emergency shelter and a warming center during the colder months. The elder Niarhos declined to comment Tuesday.

On Nov. 22, Niarhos approached Hawkins, known in the community as “Jay,” while Hawkins was walking his bike past the transportation center and began shouting at him, the affidavit said.

Salvatore Bellavia, who lives nearby, testified Tuesday that he saw the confrontation, and heard Niarhos accuse Hawkins of sexual assault. Bellavia then watched as the teenager drew a .40-caliber Smith and Wesson semiautomatic handgun from his waistband. That gun, prosecutors said, was purchased by Niarhos’ father, and usually kept in a locked safe in their home.

Hawkins attempted to swat the gun out of Niarhos’ hand with two bicycle tires he was holding, Bellavaia said. In response, Niarhos shot Hawkins in the face, knocking him to the ground. The teen fired a second shot as Hawkins lay prone, then threw the gun on the ground.

He looked “distraught,” Bellavia said, as if he couldn’t believe what he had just done. Niarhos walked across the street to the parking lot of a nearby bar, where a group of onlookers waited with him until police arrived moments later.

As police took Niarhos into custody, officers said he repeatedly shouted that Hawkins was a rapist and urged them not to help him, according to the affidavit.

This was not the first time Niarhos had made that assertion. He told investigators in July that Hawkins had sexually assaulted his girlfriend behind a dumpster.

The girl’s family declined to speak to police or press charges, according to court filings.

Hawkins’ sister, Samantha Burgess, said after the hearing that she didn’t believe her brother was capable of doing something like that. She said she believed that Niarhos had been misled.

“I think he died over a lie,” she said. “She told [Niarhos] that, he believed it, and he went after my brother.”

Hawkins’ family said that he originally was from Mahanoy City, Schuylkill County and had fallen on hard times. He lost both of his parents to drug overdoses and struggled with mental-health issues, according to his uncle, Jeffrey Stewart.

Stewart clarified earlier reports about his nephew, saying Hawkins had not been homeless at the time of his death. He had previously experienced homelessness, but had recently moved into an apartment in Germantown, Stewart said.

He had friends in Pottstown, however, and often visited or stayed with them, his uncle said.

“He never hurt anyone. He lived a hard life around some horrible things,” Stewart said. “In light of all that, I thought he was doing well, and kept his head up.”