On Wednesday September 9, 2015, at approximately 2344 hrs., officers from the Lancaster City Bureau of Police responded to the 200 block of E. Fulton Street for a report of shots fired.   Upon arrival at the scene, officers located a male victim lying in the parking lot to the rear (north side) of the apartment complex at 215 E. Fulton Street.  The victim was found unresponsive with a gunshot wound to the head.  The victim was transported to Lancaster General Hospital by EMS, where he was treated for severe head injuries.   The victim was identified as 21 year-old Rahdir Jahi Maxton, a resident of the 200 block of E. Fulton Street Lancaster, PA.   Maxton succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead three days after the shooting.   The Lancaster County Coroner’s Office performed an autopsy on September 14, 2015 and determined that Maxton died of a gunshot wound and ruled the manner of death as a homicide.  

Detectives from the Lancaster City Bureau of Police, Criminal Investigative Division (CID) began their investigation immediately after the shooting.   Detective Stanley Roache was assigned as the lead investigator.   Investigators processed the crime scene and collected evidence.   The investigators also spent countless hours reviewing surveillance video footage and piecing together a timeline of events leading up to and after the shooting.   Investigators interviewed numerous witnesses and were able to develop some helpful leads with the assistance of several citizens who provided information.  

Over the course of the next year and a half, the investigators continued to work diligently on this case, conducting additional interviews and gathering information that began to narrow the focus of the investigation.   As additional information was gathered through interviews and then corroborated through video evidence and other means, investigators developed a suspect in the investigation, who was identified as Victor Manuel Tirado, a 52 year-old Lancaster man.   Investigators learned that Tirado contacted Maxton and arranged to meet him outside the apartment building at 215 E. Fulton Street to engage in a drug transaction.   Investigators also learned that Tirado and two other individuals drove to area, and Tirado met Maxton in the parking lot north of the apartment building.  During this brief meeting, Tirado fired one shot striking Maxton in the head and then fled the scene on foot.   Investigators learned that Tirado returned to the waiting vehicle and told the other individuals that he had just shot Maxton in the head.    

The detectives worked very closely with the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office throughout the course of the investigation, culminating in homicide charges being filed today.   Detective Roache filed charges earlier today against Victor Manuel Tirado, charging him with one count of Criminal Homicide (F-1) before Magisterial District Judge Janice Jimenez.   Tirado is currently in custody in a Pennsylvania state prison facility on unrelated charges and will be arraigned on the homicide charges at a future date.   The homicide investigation is still on-going.

Anyone with information related to this assault is urged to call Lancaster City Police at (717) 735-3300 or Lancaster City-County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-322-1913. You can also click the Submit a Tip button on our website, www.lancasterpolice.com, or Text a Tip to Crime Stoppers by texting LANCS plus your message to 847411. Tipsters may remain anonymous and do not have to give their names.   

 ***The Lancaster Bureau of Police is respectfully requesting that the media limit what is published to that which is on this news release. Should the media become aware of any additional information, particularly the names of any witnesses, victims, or Lancaster residents in this case, it is requested that they refrain from publishing that information so as not to jeopardize the safety of anyone nor this ongoing investigation.***

All persons accused of a crime are considered innocent until proven guilty in court.