Man pleads guilty to killing best friend

A 23-YEAR-OLD Spring Garden man pleaded guilty yesterday to third-degree murder and weapon charges in the shooting death last year of his best friend.

Sergio Santiago, of Wallace Street near 16th, was then sentenced by Common Pleas Judge Glenn Bronson - under a plea deal between the prosecution and defense - to 15 to 30 years in state prison.

Santiago shot to death Antonio "Joey" Flores, 17, of Spring Garden, at about 3:25 p.m. March 30, 2014. At the time, they were hanging out in the apartment of their friends, Ian Cathey and Joshua Reyes, on Wallace Street near 16th.

Assistant District Attorney Carlos Vega said while Reyes was out, Santiago pulled out a .38-caliber revolver he had in his waistband, walked toward Flores, who was sitting, and "pulled the trigger."

No words were spoken, Vega said.

Reyes called 9-1-1 after he returned. Flores, who was shot in the head, was pronounced dead about half an hour later at Hahnemann University Hospital.

Vega said the motive for the shooting is unknown. Santiago and Flores were friends, and there was no known "ill will" between them, he said.

Santiago, his forehead, neck and arms covered in tattoos, declined comment in court.

His attorney, Joseph Schultz, said his client has accepted responsibility. He said Flores was Santiago's "best friend."

"He's expressed many times he's made poor choices in his life," Schultz said of his client.

Flores' mother, Antonia Flores, said her son was a "good kid." "I don't think he deserved to die the way he did, especially by his best friend, supposedly," she said.

After the shooting, Santiago fled. He was captured three days later at the Neshaminy Inn in Trevose.

Schultz, outside court, called the shooting a "tragic accident."

Vega countered that by saying: "Accidents are not called murder."