Prosecutor and police hold press conference on Friday

The Lehigh County District Attorney's Office and Allentown Police will release new information Friday morning about a shooting that injured eight people in downtown Allentown over the weekend.

The district attorney's office said a press conference will be held at 11 a.m. in Allentown to announce new developments in the case. No further information will be released before then.

Investigators have not released further details about the shooting, which occurred around 6:45 p.m. Sunday in the 100 block of North Seventh Street, not far from where the annual Dominican Festival was being held. One person, 21-year-old Yunior Peralta-Santiago, has been charged.

Police said several people shot at each other. According to court documents, officers observed Peralta-Santiago shooting at a group of people there. Eight people were shot, one of whom required surgery.

The police officers who responded to the incident “came into conflict” with the groups of people shooting at each other, but officials do not believe that the two officers who fired their weapons shot any of the injured.

Prosecutor Gavin Holihan said in a statement on Wednesday that none of the eight people shot suffered life-threatening injuries.

He described the crime scene as “chaotic” and noted that there was a lot of evidence to examine and many witnesses to interview. It was too early, Holihan said Wednesday, to describe in detail what happened and whether anyone else would be charged.

Perlta-Santiago is charged with attempted murder. He was taken to the Lehigh County Jail without bail.

Originally published: August 29, 2024 at 2:57 p.m.