Lancaster police shooting demonstrators’ bail set at $1M EACH

Thirteen protesters who were arrested during clashes with police in Pennsylvania at the weekend remain behind bars after a judge slapped the majority of them with bonds of $1 million each. 

Police say the protesters, who range from 16 to 43 years of age, were arrested for rioting in Lancaster in the early hours of Monday morning after the police shooting of a knife-wielding man sparked protests.  

The 13 protesters remained behind bars on Tuesday with bail for seven of them set at $1 million each.      

Authorities said the protests following Ricardo Munoz’s fatal shooting degenerated into rioting that damaged Lancaster’s police headquarters and produced an arson fire that blocked a downtown intersection.  

Police in Lancaster, a diverse city of nearly 60,000 in the heart of Pennsylvania Amish country, said that they arrested five others on similar charges, a group that was awaiting arraignment and to have bail set. 

The 13 defendants live in Lancaster and surrounding communities, as well as in York, Camp Hill and Mercersburg.

Among the eight for whom charging documents were available, not all face identical charges, accusations that include arson, rioting and institutional vandalism. 

One has been charged with carrying a concealed weapon without a permit.

Twelve adults – Jamal Shariff Newman, 24; Barry Jones, 30; Frank Gaston, 43; Yoshua Dwayne Montague, 23; Matthew Modderman, 31; Talia Gessner, 18; Kathryn Patterson, 20; Taylor Enterline, 20; T-Jay Fry, 28; Dylan Davis, 28; Lee Alexander Wise, 29; and Jessica Marie Lopez, 32 – face a felony and misdemeanor charges, including arson, riot, institutional vandalism and criminal conspiracy.  

A 16-year-old boy has been charged with riot, disorderly conduct, possession of instruments of crime, possession of a small amount of marijuana, propulsion of missiles onto a roadway and institutional vandalism. 

The father of Kathryn Patterson, an undergraduate student at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, said she was acting as a medic as she has at other protests in the recent past.

Chip Patterson called Kathryn Patterson’s $1 million bail, set by a magisterial district justice, ‘obscene.’

‘Everything that I know so far, which is not a lot, indicates that Kat is not guilty of those charges. But then again, we´ll have to wait and see,’ Chip said.

He said he has not been able to reach his daughter since her arrest.

‘I cannot tell you how long this night has been,’ he said. 

‘I think regardless of what these people did or didn’t do, the bail amount is just outrageous and clearly against the Eighth Amendment,’ which addresses bail. 

The protests concerned the shooting death by police of a Ricardo Munoz, whose sister had called authorities in hopes of having him involuntarily committed for mental health treatment.

Police have made public the officer’s body camera video. 

It showed Munoz, 27, approaching the officer with the knife in what appeared to be a menacing manner, before the officer, who has not been publicly identified, shot and killed him.

Munoz had been out on bond, awaiting trial for allegations he stabbed four people last year, including a teenage boy who was stabbed in the face.

His sister said Munoz was mentally ill – diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia – and hadn’t been taking his medications. 

She said she had called a crisis intervention organization and a police non-emergency number to get her brother involuntarily committed.

‘He had an episode. He was just incoherent and acting out,’ she said. ‘I called to find out what the procedure was to get him some help.’  

Protesters gathered outside the police station in the wake of the shooting and, in video posted to social media, they chanted: “Hands up, don´t shoot,” “No justice, no peace” and “What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!”

It was unclear how motivated protesters were by racism as they have been in other cities where deaths at the hands of police have stoked protest. 

Court papers list Munoz’s race as white.