Wayne Allen Weedon Jr., a 25-year-old Black / African American male from York, Pennsylvania, was shot on the evening of April 10, 2016, in the area of Girard Park near the 600 block of East Maple Street. What began as an ordinary Sunday evening in a city park turned into a deadly confrontation shortly after 7 p.m., when gunfire broke out while people were reportedly gathered near the basketball courts. Weedon was rushed to York Hospital, but he was pronounced dead at 7:32 p.m.
Two other men were also wounded in the shooting and taken for medical treatment.
Police and local reports described the shooting as targeted rather than random. Early accounts said nearly a dozen shots were fired during the confrontation, alarming nearby residents in a neighborhood where children and families were close enough to hear the violence unfold. Authorities initially said they were looking for whoever was responsible and later indicated that the incident grew out of a dispute between two groups. One reported version of events said two high school students from outside York had tried to buy marijuana, were robbed during that attempted transaction, and then the conflict carried over to Girard Park, where it escalated into gunfire.
In the days after Weedon’s death, investigators sought multiple people for questioning as they worked through what had happened at the park. Arrest warrants were later obtained for two brothers, Brady Koehler and Bradley Koehler, in connection with the homicide. Brady Koehler was 21 at the time, and Bradley Koehler was 16. Both eventually turned themselves in to authorities after being sought by York City Police.
The case moved through York County Court as prosecutors pursued accountability for the fatal shooting and the injuries to the two surviving victims. Brady Koehler pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in connection with the Girard Park shooting and was sentenced to 4½ to 9 years in prison. Reports said police believed Brady Koehler and his brother opened fire at the park during the confrontation that killed Weedon.
Bradley Koehler was also charged in the homicide and later pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter. By the time of his plea, he was 18. He received the same sentence as his older brother, 4½ to 9 years in prison. During proceedings, prosecutors and the defense characterized the case as one involving “imperfect self-defense,” meaning Bradley Koehler claimed or believed he was acting to defend himself or others, but that belief was considered legally mistaken or unreasonable under the circumstances.
Wayne’s death left behind more than a criminal case. Obituary information identified him as the son of Patricia Smith and Wayne A. Weedon Sr., and the father of two children, Wayne Allen Weedon III and A’Yajha Serenity Miller. He was remembered as someone connected to family, school, and community in York. The violence at Girard Park took his life in a public place where people had gathered for the kind of routine evening that should have ended with everyone going home, not with one man dead, two others wounded, and two brothers later sentenced for manslaughter.
