Rasheed Farrelle, 36, of Norristown.
A Montgomery County man is facing first-degree murder charges in connection with a fatal shooting in Norristown that occurred on Christmas Day in 2012.
Rasheed Farrelle, 36, of Norristown, has been charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, third-degree murder, conspiracy to commit third-degree murder, prohibited possession of a firearm, firearms not to be carried without a license and related offenses, in connection with the shooting death of 24-year-old Paul Brown.
According to a release from the district attorney’s office, police were dispatched to the 100 block of Wayne Avenue at 4:40 p.m. on Dec. 25, 2012, for a report of a shooting. Responding officers located the victim in the driver’s seat of a 1997 Buick Riviera suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, the report states.
Brown was transported to Mercy Suburban General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 5:50 p.m. An autopsy would later list Brown’s cause of death as multiple gunshot wounds, and his manner of death was listed as a homicide.
A joint investigation was launched between the Norristown Borough Police Department and the Montgomery County Detective Bureau, which uncovered that on the date of the shooting, 13 text messages and nine phone calls were exchanged between Brown and Farrelle, investigators said. The last outgoing call from Brown’s phone to Farrelle’s occurred at 4:35 p.m. – moments before the shooting, police said.
Witnesses placed Farrelle at the scene of the shooting, indicating he was wearing a distinctive coat that was similar to one worn by a man seen in surveillance video recovered near the location of the incident, the report states. Additionally, a different witness recently told police that in the summer of 2013 and again in 2015, they heard Farrelle make admissions about killing Brown, investigators said.
As law enforcement moved to take Farrelle into custody on April 15, Farrelle reportedly put his car in reverse, struck a parked car and then accelerated directly towards a Montgomery County detective, the report states. While attempting to flee, Farrelle drove onto a sidewalk and into a yard along the 900 block of New Hope Street in Norristown, before colliding with a pickup truck and then a telephone, the report states.
Farrelle was then taken into custody without further incident, police said.
Court records indicate that Farrelle was arraigned later that morning by Magisterial District Judge Scott Palladino, who denied bail and remanded Farrelle to county jail. His next court appearance is a preliminary hearing on April 23 at 10 a.m. in front of Magisterial District Judge Gregory Scott.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using court records and the affidavit of probable cause.
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