Two Bristol Township teenagers are facing more than a half dozen felony charges after a late-night joyride turned violent on I-95 early Thursday morning, according to police.
A 16-year-old Croydon boy is charged as an adult with eight felonies, including two counts of aggravated assault, conspiracy, and theft and related misdemeanors. This news organization is not identifying the teen because he is a minor.
He was arraigned Friday before District Judge Charles Jonas and sent to the Bucks County Youth Detention Center in Doylestown in lieu of $400,000 bail.
Jail bar and handcuff on concrete floor.
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The second defendant, identified as 18-year-old Joseph Montoya of Bristol Township, is charged with seven felonies, including two counts of aggravated assault and possession of a firearm without a license and related misdemeanors. He had not been arraigned on the charges as of Friday afternoon.
Pennsylvania State Police at the Trevose barracks reported that they received a call shortly after 12:30 a.m. Thursday from a man who alleged that someone fired a gun striking his car as he drove on I-95, according to a probable cause affidavit.
The victim alleged that he was westbound on the highway between the Langhorne and Bristol exits in Middletown when he came upon two vehicles driving side-by-side. The driver said he flashed his high beams at the car in front of him in the left lane.
Shortly after, the car in the right lane sped off and passed the car in the left lane, and the victim pulled alongside the car in the left lane, which he described as a dark-colored Subaru, the affidavit said.
The victim noticed two males inside the Subaru wearing all black clothing and black ski masks and staring at him.
The passenger then pointed a blue laser at the victim’s head, then moved the beam toward the rear of his car and fired, the affidavit said. The bullet allegedly struck the man’s car.
According to the affidavit, the victim immediately slowed down and the suspect’s vehicle drove past him and took the Bristol exit off the highway.
The victim was able to see a partial license plate number for the other vehicle. An alert went out to area law enforcement.
Shortly after the alert was sent, Bristol Township police located the suspect’s vehicle in the area of Route 13 in Bristol. Police stopped the car, a black Suburu Forrester, and detained the 16-year-old driver, who did not have a valid driver’s license, the affidavit said.
The teen’s mother later told police that she and her son were at home watching a movie when she fell asleep. When she woke up around midnight she discovered her son and her Forrester were missing, the affidavit said.
The mother said that she tried to reach her son on his cellphone, and that he is on probation and did not have a driver’s license. She also told police that she wanted to press charges against him for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.
In a police interview, the juvenile said he took his mom’s car to go on a late-night drive with Montoya. The affidavit did not say how the two teens knew each other.
The juvenile said that Montoya was angry after a car that was tailgating them on I-95 moved to the right lane, next to their car, the affidavit said. Montoya allegedly then pulled out a laser sight mounted on a silver handgun, pointed it at the driver and fired.
The juvenile said Montoya was unsure at the time if the bullet hit anything or anyone, according to the affidavit.
After Montoya allegedly fired the gun, the juvenile said he drove off the highway at the Bristol exit and dropped Montoya at his Levittown home before heading to his home and being stopped by state police.
The juvenile alleged that he knew Montoya carried a handgun and that he was wearing all-black clothing with a black facemask the night of the incident.
Reporter Jo Ciavaglia can be reached at jciavaglia@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Bucks County teens face felony charges for alleged I-95 gun incident