In the early morning of September 23, 2023, the life of Orlando Ibanez, a 58-year-old Hispanic man, was cut short by gunfire inside his apartment in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Police responded to a 911 call around 1:45 a.m. and found Mr. Ibanez at the entrance of his home in the 500 block of West Allen Street. He had been shot in the neck. Emergency responders rushed him to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest, where he was pronounced dead at 2:20 a.m. The Lehigh County Coroner's Office later ruled his death a homicide.
The investigation, conducted by the Allentown Police Department and the Lehigh County Homicide Task Force, quickly focused on surveillance footage from the area. The cameras captured a man entering the apartment building just before the shooting and running away several minutes later.
Investigators were able to track the man on video as he returned to his own home on North Nagle Street and identified him as Evander Terrel Thompson.
The case against Thompson grew stronger when police obtained his cellphone records. They discovered that just minutes after fleeing the scene, Thompson had sent a text message to his girlfriend stating, “he dead.” The investigation culminated in the recovery of the murder weapon, which was found in the possession of Thompson's son. Ballistics testing confirmed that shell casings found at the crime scene matched the firearm. Authorities also uncovered a video that Thompson had recorded of himself holding the gun used in the killing.
On August 2, 2024, Evander Thompson was charged with criminal homicide, aggravated assault, and carrying a firearm without a license. He was already incarcerated at the Lehigh County Jail on unrelated charges at the time.
Following a three-day trial, a jury convicted Thompson in July 2026 of first-degree murder, criminal homicide, and carrying a firearm without a license. On October 15, 2026, a judge sentenced the 32-year-old to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus an additional three to seven years for the firearms charge. The case is considered closed as of October 2026.
