On the evening of Labor Day, September 2, 2024, Terrence Brunson was sitting on a porch in Allentown, Pennsylvania, when his life was abruptly ended. The 39-year-old man was on the 500 block of West Liberty Street when a man wearing a face covering opened fire. Shot in the chest, Brunson was rushed by a private vehicle to St. Luke's Hospital's Sacred Heart Campus. Police were called to the scene near North Law and Liberty streets around 10:40 p.m., but Brunson was already at the hospital. Despite medical efforts, he was pronounced dead in the emergency department at 11:19 p.m. The Lehigh County Coroner’s Office subsequently ruled his death a homicide.
The Allentown Police Department, the Lehigh County Homicide Task Force, and the Lehigh County District Attorney's Office launched a joint investigation. Authorities described the shooting as an isolated incident, assuring the public there was no ongoing threat.
Investigators used surveillance footage that captured the shooter wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, a baseball cap, and black pants with white side stripes. This evidence proved crucial in identifying a suspect, but the investigation would continue for over a year before an arrest was made.
In September 2025, authorities issued an arrest warrant for Hector Martinez, a 26-year-old Allentown man. On September 22, 2025, an officer spotted Martinez in the 1300 block of West Walnut Street and tried to stop him. Martinez fled, initiating a foot chase. During the pursuit, a woman with him, later identified as 22-year-old Kaelis Aviles of Whitehall Township, attempted to block the officer's path by pushing him. Police managed to take both Martinez and Aviles into custody. As Martinez ran, his backpack opened, spilling suspected fentanyl, marijuana, and cash.
Martinez was charged with criminal homicide, persons not to possess firearms, carrying a firearm without a license, and recklessly endangering another person in connection with Terrence Brunson's death. Due to the circumstances of his arrest, he also faced charges of possession with intent to deliver, simple possession, resisting arrest, and evading arrest. Aviles was charged with obstructing the administration of law and disorderly conduct. Martinez was held in Lehigh County Jail without bail.
After more than two years and two trial postponements, Hector Martinez's case went before a jury. In October 2026, following a three-day trial, a Lehigh County jury convicted Martinez, then 27, of first-degree murder and carrying a firearm without a license. A conviction for first-degree murder carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. As of the verdict in October 2026, sentencing was scheduled for the following month.
