LANCASTER, Pa. — A Lancaster County man charged with homicide and illegal firearm possession in connection to the 2020 shooting death of William Deliz in Lancaster will be held over for trial after a judge decided there was sufficient evidence to proceed at a preliminary hearing this week.
Ethan Anthony Chin, 23, of Lititz, is accused of shooting and killing Deliz on the 500 block of East End Avenue shortly after 1 a.m. on Sept. 2, 2020, the Lancaster County District Attorney's Office said.
Lancaster City Bureau of Police Detective Ryan Burgett filed charges against Chin on April 29, after more than a year of investigation including interviews, gathering and analyzing evidence, and reviewing video footage, according to prosecutors.
First Deputy District Attorney Travis Anderson presented testimony from a witness that drove the car Chin was a passenger in before and after the shooting.
Burgett also testified during the hearing, which was held before Magisterial District Judge Jodie E. Richardson.
According to the DA's Office:
The first witness testified he was driving a blue Ford F-150 with Chin, who he identified in court, and another man through the 500 block of East End Street before turning onto South Ann Street and parking in a lot near East King Street on the night of the Deliz's murder.
The witness further testified that Chin then got out of the car and heard “a full clips worth” of shots nearby less than five minutes from when Chin left the vehicle. The witness then said the other man put a gun to his head and told him to go pick up Chin, who possessed a handgun and said, “I hit him. I know I hit him.”
Burgett testified that he responded to the scene of the shooting and found several shell casings, a pool of blood, and bullet holes in structures in the area.
Burgett also obtained video footage from two homes in the area and a Lancaster Safety Coalition camera at the intersection of South Ann and East End Streets of which he created a compilation that was shown during the proceeding.
According to the evidence and testimony, Deliz and two other men were standing outside a home on the 500 block of East End Street. One of the men took notice of the blue Ford F-150 drive by.
Moments later, video showed that same man appearing to be speaking with someone before something causes him to duck for cover. Debris can be seen floating in the video footage immediately after.
Another video picked up the sound of the gunshots and showed the blue Ford F-150 driving down East End Avenue again. Deliz and two other men can be seen leaving the porch toward a car.
Deliz was transported to Lancaster General Hospital by the other two men; he died of his injuries three days later.
An autopsy showed gunshot wounds to the abdomen, back, and leg. The Lancaster County Coroner’s Office ruled the victim’s cause of death as gunshot wound and manner as homicide.
Defense asked for first-degree murder to be dismissed and the defendant held on third-degree murder charges arguing an ulterior incident may have been going on between the defendant’s party and the victim’s party.
Anderson argued that the witness said he dropped the defendant off, gunshots were heard shortly thereafter, the victim was struck in a vital part of the body, and when the witness next sees the defendant, he has a gun in his hand and says he hit his target, which is enough to make out a prima facie case of first-degree murder.
