On the evening of Oct. 3, 2023, West York Police Detective David Kahley was driving in the 400 block of West Market Street when he heard gunshots behind him and stopped to investigate.
He found 35-year-old Jesus Cintron-Molina, suffering from gunshot wounds and began to render aid, according to court documents.
As he lay dying, Cintron-Molina told Kahley that someone named Freddie Luna had shot him, a dying declaration captured on a York City Police officer’s body camera, the criminal complaint stated. The victim died a short time later at York Hospital.
Police filed murder charges against Freddie Reyes-Luna, who was arrested by U.S. Marshals three days later in Lebanon
This week, Reyes-Luna, 30, was convicted of first-degree murder in Cintron-Molina’s death. Reyes-Luna had pleaded self-defense, but police testified that no gun was found at the scene and that Cintron-Molina was unarmed.
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In addition to Cintron-Molina’s dying declaration, testimony against Reyes-Luna included a statement he made to a witness who told police that the suspect showed up at his residence shortly after the shooting, sweaty from running, and said that he just shot Cintron-Molina.
Reyes-Luna, formerly of the 500 block of Pennsylvania Avenue, was returned to York County Prison, where he has been incarcerated since his arrest. He faces a mandatory sentence of life without the chance for parole.
This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Dying words of victim lead to conviction of York man for murder