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Twenty-two-year-old Edgar Gonzalez was fatally shot in the parking lot at 1871 South 5th St. on June 4, in what prosecutors are now calling an act of self-defense.
A second victim was treated for non-life-threatening injuries at an area hospital, authorities said then.
Now, the DA's Office says the gunfight followed an "altercation and confrontation" between two groups of people that began at the nearby Taco Bell parking lot on South 4th Street.
In a Kia sedan were five "aggressors," including Gonzalez and 27-year-old Joshua Ortiz of Allentown, authorities said. In a Honda were two men and one woman.
Officials say the group in the Kia confronted the Honda group in the Taco Bell parking lot and blocked them from driving away before Ortiz allegedly got out of the Kia and brandished a handgun.
The Honda driver quickly backed away but "crashed and disabled" the car, authorities continued. The three occupants fled on foot to the nearby AutoZone and called relatives to come to pick them up, according to the release.
The family members— three adults and a toddler— soon arrived at AutoZone in a Nissan pickup truck, the DA's Office said. When the Honda group got in the truck, the Kia "aggressors" spotted them and pulled up to block their exit, prosecutors wrote.
"All five people inside the Kia got out and approached the truck," and Ortiz allegedly "produced the same handgun (...) and started shooting at the occupants," authorities said.
One of the adults in the Nissan truck, who prosecutors have declined to identify returned fire, striking and killing Gonzalez, according to officials.
"The man identified as John Doe was in legal possession of a handgun(,)" the release says. He "was legally justified in using deadly force to protect himself and the occupants of the Nissan," authorities wrote.
He will not be charged, they added. None of the people in the Nissan were injured.
Court records show Ortiz is charged with attempted homicide, aggravated assault, and related counts. His bail was denied at his arraignment on Wednesday, July 5 due to a "threat to society," according to court documents.
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