A Lehighton man has been charged with killing a teen during a drug deal turned robbery near Bethlehem.

According to the affidavit of probable cause filed by Detective Emily Falko of the Bethlehem Police Department in the case against Gabriel Ramos:

At 9:35 p.m. Tuesday, the Bethlehem Police Department responded to the 1800 block of Norwood Street for a report of shots fired.

While responding, officers were flagged down at East Fourth Street and Lynn Avenue by occupants of a black Infiniti sedan, where a man with multiple gunshots was located in the vehicle and transported to St. Luke’s University Hospital Bethlehem Campus.

The teen was identified by the Lehigh County Coroner’s office as Aiden K. Toussaint, 17, of Whitehall.

Toussaint was pronounced dead at 10:30 p.m. Tuesday at the hospital.

Lehigh County First Deputy Coroner Daniel Buglio ruled the manner of death a homicide.

Ramos faces charges of criminal homicide; conspiracy, criminal homicide; possessing instrument of crime with intent; firearms to be carried without license; simple assault; robbery, inflict serious bodily injury; and conspiracy, robbery-inflict serious bodily injury.

He is currently incarcerated in the Northampton County Prison, and scheduled to have a preliminary hearing Oct. 14 before District Judge Nicholas E. Englesson of Bethlehem.

Two juveniles from Bethlehem have also been charged: Isaac Adrian Bringuez and Christopher Nieves, both 16. They are also held without bail.

Witnesses

Interviews were conducted with the two occupants of the vehicle, Toussaint’s girlfriend, and Touissant’s brother, who is 16.

The girlfriend said she went with Touissant and his brother to pick up a quarter pound of marijuana and sell it to a male Touissant knew from school. She said all three of them went to an unknown location in Whitehall where Toussaint was fronted a quarter pound of marijuana, and then used his cellphone to contact the buyer.

Touissant’s brother told police that just before the shooting, he saw Touissant messaging on his cellphone via Snapchat to someone named Isaac. A search of Touissant’s cellphone included a conversation with Isaac Bringuez, who sent Touissant a message saying, “I’m by the saints field my girl taking me there to meet you.”

Touissant’s girlfriend said they then drove to a location which was nearby and saw a light colored Honda Accord, and soon after, three males approached their vehicle. Two of them got into the back seat and began counting their money as Touissant handed over some of the marijuana. The other one stood outside the open rear driver’s side door.

Bringuez told police he was the one who was standing outside the passenger side rear door.

He said that he communicated with Touissant about the “sale,” and was meeting with Touissant to purchase $700 worth of marijuana. He said the money that was counted was money he took from a safe located in his bedroom, and that the money belonged to his grandmother. The grandmother verified that the $700 Bringuez admitted to stealing was her money.

Bringuez told police that before meeting with Touissant, it was decided that he, Ramos and Chris Nieves would steal the marijuana belonging to Touissant.

At some point Bringuez said that there was a “scuffle inside the vehicle,” and that during the altercation, he saw Touissant pull out a gun that was later identified as a black BB gun. Bringuez said he saw Ramos lift a black pistol from his waistband and recalled seeing a red laser from the pistol.

Touissant’s girlfriend also said there was an altercation in the vehicle, and that the males ran away with the marijuana and Touissant chased after them.

Touissant’s girlfriend said she saw a white female get into an altercation with Touissant outside of the vehicle, and she ran over and began fighting with the female as well.

As she was on the ground fighting, she observed a red laser, heard a gunshot, and saw Touissant was shot.

Located at the scene were parts of a BB gun, blood, a folding knife, one sandwich bag of suspected marijuana, two .380 casings, and an e-cigarette.

Police searched the vehicle Wednesday and found three medium sized baggies containing suspected marijuana in the vehicle.

Nieves was located as his residence, and police made contact with him and his mother. The mother told police that he came home late and ran right upstairs, and that she found blood in the bathroom sink.

He had visible bruising and swelling to his face, and his forehead was actively bleeding from a wound. He also complained of pain in his right thumb, and was transported to St. Luke’s hospital for further treatment.

A search warrant of Bringuez’s residence yielded $980 in currency. Bringuez confirmed that $700 of the money in the safe was used in the robbery.

Ramos does not have a license to carry a firearm in the state of Pennsylvania.