SCRANTON, Pa. — A 20-year-old man was criminally charged Wednesday and accused of firing five bullets from a snub-nosed revolver at Scranton police detectives, striking a detective in the head and shocking the community in a burst of gang-related violence
Aiden Gabriel Deininger, of Old Forge, was arraigned Wednesday at Geisinger Community Medical Center, where he is recovering from a bullet wound that he suffered in an exchange of gunfire with police last week.
Detective Kyle Gilmartin was shot twice in the head by Deininger, according to a criminal complaint charging Deininger with a host of felonies. Gilmartin survived and remains hospitalized at GCMC.
“Deininger’s actions were brazen, reckless, and without regard to human life,” Lackawanna County District Attorney Mark Powell said. “Simply put, it was an ambush.”
Lackawanna County Judge Michael J. Barrasse arraigned Deininger. Reporters were not permitted at the arraignment because officials cited concerns regarding privacy, hospital policy, and the size of the room.
Bail was denied, Powell said.
Officers placed Gilmartin’s handcuffs on Deininger once he was arraigned, state police Major Michael Carroll said.
Among the charges, Deininger faces three counts of attempted homicide of a law enforcement officer. In addition to Gilmartin, police said he shot at Detective Jason Hyler and Detective Sergeant Joseph Lafferty.
The incident began early Thursday morning as Gilmartin and others investigated reports of gunfire.
A 19-year-old man, Jeremiah Cleveland, has also been charged for his alleged involvement in those incidents and is locked up without bail. A preliminary hearing is tentatively scheduled for Monday.
The detectives learned that their suspects started a live stream on Instagram while they were at a Sheetz in Carbondale Township.
Sheetz was able to give the investigators surveillance footage, which captured a dark-colored sedan consistent with one detected by a camera near the scene of gunshots.
That gave them a partial license plate number. They cross-referenced the partial number with data collected by license plate readers in the city and managed to put together a full license plate number.
The license plate readers showed the sedan had been traveling to South Scranton from center city in the moments between reports of gunfire on Harrison Avenue and Prospect Avenue.
The live stream suggested their next target was West Scranton.
“The cops are looking for me right now and I’m still spinnin,” Deininger said, according to the complaint.
They found the sedan empty at the corner of North Main Avenue and Swetland Street.
They found Deininger nearby. He raised his gun and fired five times, police said.
Two bullets struck Gilmartin’s head. Lafferty shot back five times. Deininger was hit and collapsed.
Both Gilmartin and Deininger were rushed to GCMC. Gilmartin is doing "remarkably well," Powell said.
It was there, on Wednesday, where they continued to recover and where Deininger faced a judge.
Watch the entire news conference with the Pennsylvania State Police, Scranton Police Department, and Lackawanna County DA on WNEP's YouTube channel: