Family members of a man who was shot and killed while on a camping trip in Pennsylvania a month ago are now calling his death a modern-day "lynching."
Police are still investigating the death of Peter Bernardo Spencer, a 29-year-old Jamaican immigrant. He died on December 12 after being shot multiple times at a home in Rockland Township, a small city in east-central Pennsylvania about 60 miles northwest of Philadelphia.
No one has been charged in Spencer's death. The suspect, identified as a 25-year-old man, and three other people who were present at the time of the shooting were questioned and released after consultation with the Venango County district attorney, state police said in a statement. Multiple firearms were seized at the scene.
Few other details about the death have been released by law enforcement. Officials have urged patience in the case, saying it could take an additional four to six weeks before investigators have complete ballistics data and toxicology and laboratory test results.
Spencer's relatives, however, believe that he was murdered. According to his family, Spencer was invited by a former co-worker to go on a camping trip at a cabin that weekend.
"He was the only Black individual at the camp site," Carmela King, Spencer's pregnant fiancé, wrote on a GoFundMe page.
Spencer's brother Tehilah bluntly called the incident a "hate crime."
"Peter was MURDERED in Rockland Township, Pennsylvania in a backwater rural town where he was completetly (sic) vulnerable and cut off from everything and everyone," he wrote on a separate GoFundMe page. "He was slaughtered and killed in what i consider an act of MODERN DAY LYNCHING!"
State police said in their initial report that the department's Heritage Affairs unit, which responds to hate and bias-related crimes, had been notified of the shooting. Beyond that, police have not commented on the direction of their investigation or any possible motive.
The Venango County District Attorney also declined to comment on the case, citing the ongoing investigation.
"This office also takes seriously any possibility that a crime may be fueled by hatred toward a person because of their race, color, religion, or national origin," the office said in a statement. "Rest assured, the Venango County District Attorney's Office will take every measure to ensure that justice is sought wherever it may be found."
In the meantime, Spencer's mother just wants answers. She said she has not been given a satisfactory explanation about her son's killing.
"We have been told that there was an altercation and the people who shot him were in fear for their lives, but this makes no sense," Icilda Spencer-Henry told Jamaican newspaper The Gleaner. "My son was not perfect, but he did not like anyone around him who did not work. He worked hard, and he was always encouraging others, motivating them to do better."
Police are continuing to actively investigate the case.
Related
Related
