Amdrella Cartel, a 27-year-old Black woman from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was killed in the early morning hours of June 17, 2023, after gunfire broke out in the 600 block of North Plum Street near East Frederick Street. Lancaster City police were called to the area just before 3:00 a.m. for a reported shooting. When officers arrived, they found Cartel dead from a gunshot wound.
The Lancaster County Coroner later identified her and reported that she died from a firearm-related injury, with her time of death noted as 6:13 a.m.
The shooting did not end with only one victim. Police were soon told that two other adults had arrived at a local hospital with gunshot-related injuries. Those two victims survived, and their injuries were described as non-life-threatening. The scene on North Plum Street became the center of a homicide investigation, with detectives interviewing people and looking for surveillance footage or witness information from the surrounding area.
As investigators worked through the case, they identified 20-year-old Timothy Allen of Lancaster as the alleged shooter. Police said Allen was accused of shooting Cartel and the two surviving victims, and an arrest warrant was issued for him. The charges listed against him included criminal homicide, criminal attempted homicide, aggravated assault, ten counts of recklessly endangering another person, and carrying a firearm without a license.
In the days after the shooting, Allen was not immediately in custody. Police publicly asked for help finding him, and a Crime Stoppers reward was offered as investigators continued the search. On June 26, 2023, Allen turned himself in at the Lancaster City police station. After surrendering, he was taken into custody on the homicide and related shooting charges.
People who knew Cartel described the loss as devastating. One friend, who called her “Rella,” said she was genuine, sweet, silly, and the kind of person whose smile brightened everyone around her. While police focused on the evidence and the search for the suspect, those who loved Cartel were left grieving a sudden killing that began as a late-night burst of violence and ended with one life gone and two others wounded.
The allowed online sources available for this synopsis documented the shooting, the identification of Cartel as the victim, the identification of Timothy Allen as the suspect, the charges filed against him, and his later surrender to police. Those sources did not provide a verified final trial outcome, conviction, plea, sentence, or punishment.
