One of four suspects in drive-by shooting case pleads guilty to lesser charges

May 10—SUNBURY — A Sunbury resident will wait to see if a Northumberland County judge will accept a plea on charges stemming from a retaliation drive-by shooting incident that occurred in June 2022.

Reggie Houseal, 21, of Seventh Street, appeared in court with his public defender Cory Leshner, and pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of terroristic threats, simple assault and possession of an instrument of crime in an attempted homicide case that is allegedly linked to a May 2022 shooting that left a 30-year-old Sunbury man dead inside the Penn Jersey Mart on Fourth Street.

Rosini said she would take the plea under advisement and said if accepted she would sentence Houseal at a later date.

Leshner told Rosini his client pleading to the charges is not in any way linked to him testifying in the case against three other co-defendants, and that if Houseal is asked to testify by Northumberland County District Attorney Mike O'Donnell, who is prosecuting the case, he would not.

The incident began about a month earlier in May 2022, when police said Ajani Ousha Uhuru shot and killed Kareem Jakes.

A month later Houseal and three other people were inside a vehicle that fired shots at a family member of Uhuru on Third Street during an alleged drive by shooting, police said.

Police say, Isaac Holley, of Northumberland, Francky Riche, of Mount Carmel, and Anthony Moultrie were inside the vehicle at the time of the June 2022 alleged shooting.

Uhuru has been charged with homicide and is expected to head to trial this week.

Riche and Moultrie are accused of two counts of attempted homicide. Houseal and Holley are accused of two counts of an accomplice to attempted homicide as well as several other felony charges, according to a criminal complaint.

Sunbury Police Chief Travis Bremigen, the lead investigator in both cases, said police received a phone call from a resident in the 100 block of South Third Street on June 17 2022 stating the man discovered a bullet hole in his vehicle. At the scene, police located seven spent brass casings, four .380 spent casings, and three 9mm spent casings, according to the complaint.

Officers also retrieved video surveillance, which showed a white vehicle at 10:07 p.m. on June 16, traveling on South Third Street and running the stop sign at South Third and Chestnut streets. A black SUV was seen traveling behind the vehicle and the video shows what appears to be a firearm muzzle flash coming from the black SUV, according to officers.

More video was obtained and reviewed. Police said they saw the vehicles traveling at a high rate of speed in the city. Someone inside the black SUV was observed to be firing from the vehicle while both vehicles were traveling south on South Third Street.

Police were later notified by an individual that they were one of the people inside the white vehicle who believed they were the target of retaliation because of the relation to Uhuru, police said.

The individual told police they were picked up by another man and the two left a home and were eventually followed by the black SUV, according to police.

The person allegedly told officers they had been getting threats from a male and believed it was in retaliation for the shooting at the Penn Jersey Mart in May. Police visited the Penn Jersey Mart and reviewed video footage and said they observed the same black SUV in the parking lot on June 15 and were able to identify Holley, police said.

Through several other pieces of video footage, police identified Holley and requested he come to the police station to be interviewed, police said.

Holley arrived and said the black SUV is owned by a relative. He said the night of the incident on South Third Street he picked up three other people and was told to follow the white vehicle, police said.

Holley said he followed the vehicle and attempted to stop the vehicle but the vehicle did not stop and a passenger, Moultrie, started firing shots at the car and Holley became afraid for his life, police said. Holley said he stopped the vehicle and told the three passengers to get out, police said.

Houseal Jr. allegedly told officers he was in the vehicle, police said.

Houseal allegedly told officers after the shots were fired he told Holley to stop the vehicle and then he got out, police said. Houseal said "Zoe" later identified as Francky Riche, was given a handgun by a female and that "Zoe" was one of the shooters on June 15, according to police.

Bremigen said police were able to retrieve the handgun from a home on Seventh Street.