Aiden Deininger’s red shoes gave him away.
“He walked right in front of us,” Det. Sgt. Joe Lafferty said in court Friday.
Lafferty testified during a preliminary hearing for Deininger and Jeremiah Cleveland. Both men, who appeared shackled in court, are accused of crimes related to the Jan. 11 shooting of Scranton Police Officer Kyle Gilmartin. Magisterial District Judge Paul Ware said the case will now move to trial after over four hours of testimony.
During the night of Jan. 10 and into the early morning of Jan. 11, Deininger, 20, of Old Forge, and Cleveland, 19, of Mayfield, allegedly drove throughout Lackawanna County committing crimes. Investigators say they stole a credit card from one convenience store and used it at another. They also fired a gun into two South Scranton homes and argued with suspected gang members on Instagram, footage played during the hearing showed.
The night ended with Cleveland at home and Deininger allegedly shooting Gilmartin in West Scranton.
In photos and videos shown Friday, Deininger wore a red coat and red shoes. He sat in court straight faced. It was the first time he had been in the same place as Gilmartin since the shooting.
Gilmartin initially was in critical condition and not expected to survive. He has said it's a miracle he's alive.
Fatal night recalled
After 4:40 a.m. on Jan 11, Lafferty, Gilmartin and Office Jason Hyler turned into North Decker Court in West Scranton in an unmarked police car, Lafferty said on the stand. All three officers were in court Friday.
They were called in to help investigate the earlier shootings and the new threats that police were following on Cleveland’s Instagram account.
Deininger allegedly headed to Scranton around 4 a.m. to shoot suspected gang members they had argued with earlier. Surveillance footage helped officers identify the car they were driving, a dark-colored Ford Fusion registered to Deininger’s stepfather.
Lafferty, Gilmartin and Hyler saw a suspect who matched the description of the person they spent most of the night looking for — wearing a red coat and red shoes.
Lafferty said while on the stand that he positioned the car towards the suspect and turned on the high beams.
The suspect, now identified as Deininger, reached for his gun, Lafferty testified. The revolver, registered in his mother’s name, holds five bullets. He fired them all at the car and hit Gilmartin twice in the head, Lafferty testified.
With no time to think or put the car in park, Lafferty said he got out, rolled to the ground and returned fire, hitting Deininger three times.
Lafferty noticed his car was still moving, he said on the stand. Then he heard Hyler yell that Gilmartin had been shot.
“He was obviously shot in the head and wasn’t doing well,” Lafferty said, during a moment that left him visibly choked up.
Graphic video evidence
Friday's lengthy hearing also included a text message exchanged between the two men, surveillance videos and photos from the night Gilmartin was shot.
Body camera footage was played from the Scranton Police officers responding to West Scranton that night.
At that point, First Assistant District Attorney Brian Gallagher gave time for people to excuse themselves from the courtroom. Gilmartin, his wife, Lindsey, and his brother left. Hyler, Lafferty, Scranton Police Chief Thomas Carroll and other officers stayed.
The footage showed Deininger collapsed on the ground, bleeding from his gunshot wounds. Police worked to stop the bleeding.
Then it showed officers attempting to save Gilmartin.
“We need a car in the court, we need a car in the court,” an officer can be heard yelling in the footage.
The courtroom watched Officer Pat Perry’s drive to the hospital with Gilmartin, unresponsive, in the back of his police SUV.
“Stay with me Kyle,” Perry repeated, speeding to Geisinger Commonwealth Medical Center.
After the hearing, Carroll said the footage showed the bond between officers and was a testament to their training.
"We had a very successful day and we look forward to watching this proceed in the courts,” he said.
Deininger and Cleveland remain in custody pending trial with bail denied for both.
Defense contests evidence
Cleveland’s defense attorney, Terry McDonald, questioned the authenticity of the Instagram videos and cited case law. Ware let them play. McDonald also argued against some of Cleveland’s charges, including one for firing into an occupied structure.
Deininger’s attorney, Robert Saurman, questioned the undercover car the officers were riding in and whether Deininger knew they were police.
“Does Detective Gilmartin look like any of those individuals? Does Detective Hyler look like any of those individuals?” Gallagher asked during the hearing, pointing out that the gang members they argued with online were juvenile African Americans.
The officers are white and middle-aged, he later said.
The officers who took the stand repeated that the car had a police antenna and a light bar that was not turned on at the time, but still visible.
"He was supposed to meet this guy for a fight on a back street, a car comes driving towards him at a high rate of speed. He doesn't know who it is. And he makes a horrible decision,” said Saurman after the hearing. “And I don't believe the Commonwealth in the end of the day will be able to prove he did.”
He said Deininger feels horrible.
"This has changed his life in bad ways, not nearly as bad as the detective for sure," he said.
