The instigators of a ‘street battle’ that left a bystander dead are on trial in Montgomery County

A culture in which guns are wielded openly and violence is too often the response to challenge was on display on a Norristown street last year, prosecutors in Montgomery County said Monday. And a man sitting on his sister’s stoop became a casualty of a petty feud that started on Instagram and quickly became all too real.

That was the scene Assistant District Attorney Samantha Cauffman described at the outset of the murder trial for two men who she said waged a gun fight in September 2021 as families enjoyed a warm summer afternoon on Astor Street.

“This was a violent street battle that ended with an innocent man with a hole in his head and his life bleeding out,” she said.

Edwin Islas-Cruz and Joshua Agudio face first-degree murder and related charges in the death of Barry Fields, a bystander caught in the crossfire of their shootout. Their trial, before County Judge William Carpenter, is expected to last a week.

Agudio, 21, was hanging out with a group of other men outside of a rowhome a few houses down from where Fields’ sister lives, according to court filings. As the men gathered outside, authorities said, a Toyota Camry pulled toward them, and Islas-Cruz, 24, and another man, Giovanni Islas, got out of the car and opened fire. Agudio returned fire, the affidavit said, and the two other gunmen got back into the Camry and sped away.

» READ MORE: A ‘Wild West’ shootout in Norristown killed a bystander, the Montgomery County DA says

None of the suspects was able to possess guns legally because of previous felony convictions, according to prosecutors. Islas, whom investigators are still searching for, was 16 at the time of the incident.

Fields, 51, who had been sitting on the steps of his sister’s house, was struck once in the head and pronounced dead at the scene. He was the only person injured in the gun fight, during which nearly 40 bullets were fired.

Fields’ sister, Jodi Peregrina, wept Monday as she described the chaos of that day. Her family, including her teenage daughter, had been outside for hours before the shooting, she said. When gunfire rang out, she ducked for cover, but her brother was hit as he attempted to crouch down next to her.

The bullet that struck Fields came from Agudio’s gun, Cauffman said. She said the 21-year-old instigated the conflict that led up to the shooting for weeks online, calling his co-defendants in an unrelated illegal gun case “rats” on Instagram for allegedly cooperating with police. Islas-Cruz is close friends with those men, she said, and took the threats personally.

“Make no mistake,” Cauffman said, “[Agudio] knew what he was doing, knew what he was starting, and he knew how it would end.”

Agudio’s attorney, Brendan Campbell, disputed that theory of the case and said his client was acting in self-defense when he fired his gun that afternoon.

It was reasonable, Campbell said, for Agudio to react the way he did, when two masked men ambushed him and opened fire.

“My client feared for his life,” Campbell said. “His response was a reasonable response, and he did not instigate this shooting.”

Meanwhile, Islas-Cruz’s attorney, Todd Fiore, tried to cast doubt that his client was even present at the shooting. And though he called Fields’ death “an unspeakable tragedy,” he said the idea that Islas-Cruz and his brother would try to kill someone over threats made against their friends was “far afield.”

After the shooting, detectives tracked Agudio through his cell phone, which they recovered during a traffic stop. Agudio had tried to flee, but the car he was riding in got stuck in mud, and he fled on foot, leaving behind his sneakers and phone, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest.

On the phone, detectives discovered the alleged motivation for the shooting, as well as numerous photos and videos of Agudio holding guns, threatening he was going to “get it back in blood,” the affidavit said.

Islas-Cruz, however, eluded police for weeks. Investigators later learned he had driven to the shooting in a car he borrowed from his sister’s boyfriend, but had returned it and slipped away, unnoticed.

He was arrested a month after the shooting more than 1,000 miles away from Norristown: A Nebraska State Police trooper pulled him over for speeding on I-80 and found a gun with an obliterated serial number inside the car, prosecutors said. The weapon matched the description of the one used in the shooting that killed Fields.

His younger brother is wanted on first-degree murder and related charges, and a warrant for his arrest has been issued in connection with Fields’ death.