Judge rejects trying teen as juvenile

The Montgomery County teenager who shot and wounded a classmate during what was supposed to be a fistfight will be tried as an adult on assault and attempted murder charges, a Common Pleas Court judge has ruled.

Judge Jeffrey Sommer said in an order he read aloud from the bench on Wednesday that the attorney for defendant Raul Castro had failed to meet the burden of showing that his client’s case would best be handled in county Juvenile Court.

Sommer said in his four-page opinion that Castro was in need of long term rehabilitative treat

ment — an opinion he said was shared by two psychologists who interviewed the teenager — and that if he was allowed to have his case transferred to Juvenile Court he would be released from supervision when he turns 21 in about five years. The treatment he needs is available only in the adult prison system.

“Only the adult system can compel and provide this long-term treatment, which satisfies the court’s concerns as to adequacy and duration,” Sommer wrote.

The judge concluded, in addition, that Castro represented a threat not only to the two victims in the case — the youth he shot in the back while the then-14-yearold ran away, and a second teenager — but to the community at large.

“It is clear to this court that the violent nature of the offense was disproportionate to the circumstances,” Sommer wrote. “(Castro) brought a gun to a proposed fist fight. He shot at two individuals as their backs were turned and they were running away. There is no doubt about his culpability. Without rehabilitative treatment, (Castro) clearly poses a threat to the public.”

Castro, 16, of Lower Pottsgrove showed no outward reaction when Sommer read his order keeping his case in adult court. He spoke briefly with his attorney, Ryan Grace of the law firm of Kelly & Bellwoar of West Chester, before being led from the courtroom by sheriff deputies and returned to Chester County Prison, where he had been held on bail since his arrest in 2019.

Neither of the two victims nor their families were in court for Sommer’s decision, which came after two days of testimony and argument in June. About six members of Castro’s family were present, but did not speak. Castro’s next court date was continued until September, at which time

Grace said he might file pretrial motions or ask that the case proceed to trial.

Castro, a student at Pottsgrove High School, was charged after he was taken into custody by Lower Pottsgrove police officers following the report of a shooting around 3:45 p.m. on April 1, 2019.

Chief Michael Foltz and Detective Sgt. Joseph Campbell found him in the area of Porter Road in Lower Pottsgrove across the Schuylkill River from where the shooting allegedly occurred.

During a ride from the scene to the township police department, Castro allegedly told Officer David McKehnie that he, “tried to help him” by putting pressure on his wounds.

“I felt bad after I did it,” he said, according to a criminal complaint filed in the case by lead investigator Chester County Detective Kristin C. Lund.

The police located the shooting victim — who has not been identified publicly — on the Chester County side of the river in East Coventry under an abandoned railroad bridge near Mark Drive, conscious but not alert. He was flown to the hospital by helicopter.

The youth, who testified before Sommer about his condition, has undergone multiple surgeries to treat his wounds, and is “at constant risk of (further medical problems),” Sommer wrote. The second youth, who witnessed the shooting, is undergoing counseling for traumatic stress.

East Coventry and Lower Pottsgrove police were able to identify the second youth as a witness to the events, and who had called 911 emergency to report the shooting. That youth, a then-15-year-old who was classmates at Pottsgrove with Castro and the first victim, said the shooting had its roots in a dispute that Castro had with him and his friend.

The trio had all been friends, the 15-year-old said, until the weekend before April 1, 2019. He and the victim had gone to Castro’s

home where Castro told them he did not want to be their friends anymore, and that if they ever came back to his house he would slap them, Lund wrote in her complaint.

When the two appeared back at Castro’s house the following day, he told them he wanted a “real fight,” the 15-year-old said.

The three agreed at Castro’s urging to meet under the abandoned railroad bridge the afternoon of April 1. When Castro arrived, he walked down a set of stairs on the bridge to where the other two were waiting. They all then began walking to a nearby set of woods, with Castro behind the pair.

As they walked, the 15-year-old heard two gunshots. Realizing what was happening, the youth began to run away and heard a bullet pass by his head, he told Lund.

He eventually turned and went back to his friend, who was lying on the ground clutching a gun and bleeding from his stomach. The victim told the other youth to call 911, and the 15-yearold put his hands on the gunshot wound to try to stop the bleeding.

He said Castro “just stood there,” in contrast to Castro’s statement to police about trying to help his former friend.

Castro then ran from the scene.

The gun used in the shooting was recovered and traced to a relative of Castro’s who lived at his home.

In his ruling, Sommer pointed out that the shooting had an impact not only on the two teenagers, but on their parents as well. “The victims’ mothers each testified that (Castro’s) release would make it nearly impossible for them to feel safe in their own communities,” he said. “They were especially fearful for the safety of their children.

“They believed that if (Castro) committed this act once, he could do it again,” the judge stated.

To contact staff writer Michael P. Rellahan call 610-696-1544.