Man charged with firing at car on Route 283
Incident occurred Sunday night in Rapho Twp.

By Brett Lovelace, Intelligencer Journal Staff
Intelligencer Journal

Published: Sep 13, 2005 9:57 AM EST


LANCASTER COUNTY, PA - State police arrested a 28-year-old man for allegedly shooting at another vehicle Sunday night on Route 283 in Rapho Township.


Bernardino Sandoval-Castillo, who police identified as an illegal Mexican immigrant living in Mount Joy, was charged with firing a .40-caliber handgun from a minivan at another car at 9:49 p.m. Sunday.

Two bullets struck the car but did not injure its teenage occupants.

Sandoval-Castillo and another man were arrested in Mount Joy Borough about 10 p.m. Sunday. Police recovered a handgun and ammunition.

State police Troopers Chad Roberts and Henry Callithen determined Sandoval-Castillo was a passenger in a green 1996 Pymouth Voyager that passed a 1991 Plymouth Laser as the vehicles traveled eastbound on Route 283.

The two vehicles passed each other several times for a few miles on the highway.

As they reached the Route 283/230 intersection, Sandoval-Castillo held a handgun out the window of the van, police said, and fired two shots, striking the Laser in its trunk and front-side marker on the driver's side.

Two 18-year-old men were in the Laser. The teens followed the minivan on Route 283 to the Route 772 exit.

As they followed the minivan west into Mount Joy Borough, the teens called 911 on a cell phone. An emergency dispatcher broadcast a description of the minivan to police, and a Mount Joy Borough police officer stopped the van on Fairview Street.

A Susquehanna Regional police officer arrived a short time later and helped arrest the men in the van.

Roberts and Callithen also arrived, and police took all four men involved in the shooting to the Mount Joy police station for questioning.

Police determined the driver of the minivan did not have a driver's license.

Sandoval-Castillo was charged with two counts of aggravated assault, illegal possession of a firearm and carrying a firearm without a license, all felonies, and two misdemeanors.

Police did not release the identity of the minivan driver, who was released with a summary charge.

No charges were filed against the teenagers, whose names were not released.

District Judge John C. Winters arraigned Sandoval-Castillo Monday and committed him to Lancaster County Prison after he failed to post $50,000 bail.