Bensalem police believe that a professional racehorse jockey was in a marijuana-induced haze when he allegedly went on a violent and half-naked crime spree that left him with life-threatening bullet wounds after breaking into two apartments.
Angel Suarez Medero, 21, was formally arraigned Tuesday at his hospital bedside where he has been since Dec. 28, when he was shot twice by a resident of one of the Franklin Commons apartments. Suarez Medero, who also lives in the complex with his girlfriend, faces felony burglary, criminal trespassing and related charges.
District Judge Leonard Brown set his bail at 10 percent of $250,000, but Suarez Medero remains hospitalized with liver and pancreas injures. He will remain under Bucks County prison guard watch until his discharge.
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| Angel Suarez Medero |
The Courier Times was unsuccessful in reaching Suarez Medero’s attorney, William Goldman Jr., for comment Tuesday. Suarez Medero has been described as a promising jockey who races at Parx Racetrack in Bensalem, finishing in second place in the prestigious Eclipse Award for top apprentice jockey in 2012.
New details revealed in court documents outline the alleged trail of destruction that Suarez Medero blazed on Dec. 28 at the complex on the 1000 block of Bobolink Drive.
Suarez Medero’s girlfriend, also a professional racehorse jockey, told police that she was with him at their apartment earlier that day and that Suarez Medero was smoking marijuana during a trip to a nearby restaurant to pick up takeout food, according to a probable cause affidavit.
When the couple returned home, they had a “small argument” and Suarez Medero went into the bathroom, the girlfriend reportedly told police. When he came out, he was “acting off,” she said, according to the affidavit.
Suarez Medero’s mother told police that when her son left the bathroom he appeared to be having a “mental episode,” court documents show. The mother claimed he previously had a “mental episode” after smoking marijuana when they lived in Puerto Rico, police said.
A search warrant was executed at the couple’s Cardinal Drive apartment and police confiscated two small plastic bags containing what appeared to be marijuana on the nightstand drawer next to the bed, the affidavit said.
Bensalem police allege the rampage started shortly after 8:30 p.m. when a woman reported a man was standing on her second-floor balcony masturbating. As Nicole Donlen ran out of her apartment, she heard glass breaking and a man was running around the apartment she shared with her fiancé, police said.
When police arrived, they found the rear sliding glass door and rear bedroom window of the apartment broken and living room furniture overturned. Police later learned that Suarez Medero threw a chair through the sliding glass door and entered the apartment. They found fresh blood on the kitchen floor, bathroom door jamb and closet door.
While investigating the first call, officers received a report that a man was shot and being held at an apartment in the same building. The man who lived at the second apartment was on top of Suarez Medero and large amounts of blood dotted the living room and kitchen, according to court records.
The man told police that he and his wife were watching TV in the living room when they heard a banging from outside the rear of their apartment, court documents said. The wife opened the sliding glass door to investigate while the man retrieved his .45-caliber gun.
He then walked into the rear yard and was headed toward Donlen’s apartment when he saw Suarez Medero dive out of Donlen’s second floor window, police said.
Suarez Medero was wearing a white T-shirt and nothing else and had Donlen’s long-haired dachshund Ollie in his hand when he jumped, the man told police. As of Tuesday, Ollie remains missing, though he has been spotted in Bensalem and neighboring Bristol Township with the most recent sighting Sunday.
After he landed on the ground, Suarez Medero started in the man’s direction with his arms waving and talking “gibberish,” the affidavit said. Suarez Medero then entered the man’s apartment and grabbed his wife, who was standing in the kitchen, police said. The husband ran into the kitchen, confronted Suarez Medero and twice told him he had a gun.
The man fired the gun twice when Suarez Medero was running at him and wouldn’t stop, shooting him in the stomach area, court documents said.
But the bullets failed to stop him, police said, so the man grabbed Suarez Medero, took him to the ground and put him a headlock while his wife called 911. He held him like that until police arrived. The resident does not face any criminal charges in the shooting, according to the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office.
Suarez Medero then struggled with police while they were attempting to take him into custody, taking three officers to handcuff him, according to police.
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