NORRISTOWN, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — The trial of three members of the Pagan Motorcycle Club is underway in Montgomery County. The men are charged with sparking a shootout in the parking lot of the West Norriton Wawa last fall, but their lawyers said it was the members of a rival gang who started it.
George Cwienk, Joel Herandez-Martinez and Justin Noll are on trial for charges including multiple counts of aggravated assault.
Prosecutors said around 9 p.m. on Oct. 17, the three men were with a group of nine Pagans who pulled into the Wawa at West Main Street and Trooper Road in West Norriton when they saw two Unknown Motorcycle Club members at the gas pumps. They surrounded the two men and began beating them, provoking, as prosecutors said, the two Unknowns to open fire in justified self-defense.
But attorneys for the three Pagans said the Commonwealth has the wrong men on trial.
They said the Pagans were simply stopping for gas on their way to meet their families at a club function, and when they pulled up to the gas pumps, the defense lawyers said the Unknowns started the confrontation when one flashed a gun, and the Pagans were simply trying to disarm him.
Fourteen shots were fired; 13 of those bullets were tracked to a gun owned by one of the Unknowns. It’s not known what gun fired the other bullet.
Six people were shot, including all three defendants, a Wawa employee, and a man putting air in his tires.
Nine Pagans were charged; four pleaded guilty. Charges against two others were thrown out.
Their lawyers say the other gang started it
Their lawyers say the other gang started it
