Jacyln Morales sent out a call for help from the community as her sister, Jennifer Morales, prepared, emotionally and financially, to bury her 16-year-old son.
She created a GoFundMe page that has raised over $12,000 as of Nov. 10 to assist in the burial of Omar Edward Rodriguez. Rodriguez died in an Oct. 27 shooting in Lebanon City, according to his family.
The internet appeal reads, “As most of you know, God gained another Angel yesterday. Our baby Omar gained his wings. With the heaviest heart we ask that u donate anything to help us put him to rest. As any family we were not prepared to bury our 16 yr old baby.”
Rodriguez, a junior at Lebanon High School, enjoyed listening to music, playing PS4, hanging out with his girlfriend and picking on his little sister, according to his obituary.
“Omar was the best kid,” Jacyln Morales said in an email to the LNP | LancasterOnline. “He was a prankster. Always cracking jokes playing his ps4. He love to dance.”
Lebanon City Police have charged two teenagers with shooting and killing a person, identified as O.R. in court documents, last week.
At around 3:30 p.m. Oct. 27, police were called to North 6th Street for a collision involving a 16-year-old boy who had crashed his vehicle into parked vehicles.
The boy, identified by family as Omar Edward Rodriguez, was found with a gunshot wound to his chest. A passenger in Rodriguez’s Honda Pilot fled the scene, according to court documents. Rodriguez was pronounced dead at the Good Samaritan (Wellspan) Hospital.
Police say Jaedyn Gaines, 17, and Jayden Pagan, 15, planned to rob the 16-year-old Honda driver and one other following a meeting to purchase marijuana. Gaines took marijuana from a passenger in the vehicle as an argument broke out between the driver and Pagan, according to a previous report from Lebanon City Police and court documents.
Pagan and Rodriguez struggled over Pagan’s handgun, ran around the vehicle and shot Rodriguez, according to court documents.
An analysis of Rodriguez’s phone showed that he had used Snapchat minutes before the shooting. He had been communicating with an account that had recent pictures of Pagan wearing the sweatshirt he was believed to have worn during the shooting, according to court documents.
Pagan, of Lebanon city, is charged with homicide, conspiracy to commit homicide and several charges related to robbery and the underage purchase and use of a gun, according to Lebanon City Police.
A warrant has been issued for Pagan’s arrest, and police continue to search for him.
Gaines was charged with homicide and conspiracy to commit homicide. He is in the Lebanon County Correctional Facility after being denied bail.
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