The 23-year-old authorities said they opened fire in the parking lot of a Walmart super center in Whitehall last Friday. A woman from Allentown was killed and a man injured.

The records lehighvalleylive.com received on Monday shed more light on the case. Edward Joel Rosario-Jimenez of Whitehall Township arrived at Walmart, 2601 MacArthur Road (Route 145) just before 7 p.m. He was driving a black Toyota SUV with three other people, one of whom was the mother of a child planning a custody swap in the store’s parking lot.

Court records do not reveal the relationship between Rosario-Jimenez and the child’s mother.

The Toyota, authorities said, pulled up behind a vehicle with at least two occupants – the child’s father and 20-year-old Nicolette Law from Allentown – parked in the store’s goods collection department. Nor do court records give any indication of whether a child was actually in a vehicle or indicate the relationship between the law and the child’s father.

The Lehigh District Attorney’s office Jim Martin wouldn’t say if the child was in the car or if the rendition ever took place. The office also declined to comment on other questions from lehighvalleylive.com regarding the relationships and the latest health of the child’s father.

Witnesses told investigators who argued over the custody exchange prior to the exchange of fire. The responding officers found Law and the male victim shot in the parking lot just before 7 p.m. According to court records, three cartridge cases were confiscated nearby as evidence.

The mother reported to investigators Rosario-Jimenez began arguing with the child’s father, which resulted in Rosario-Jimenez allegedly opening fire on the male victim and Law in several rounds. The male victim is currently in hospital seeking medical treatment for his wounds, authorities said.

The bill was moved to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest in Salisbury Township, where she was pronounced dead at 7:40 p.m. on Friday, according to the Lehigh County Coroner Office. Lehigh County’s coroner Eric Minnich ruled the case as murder, saying the cause of death was a gunshot wound or wounds. An autopsy is expected to be carried out on Monday.

Everyone fled after the shootout in the Toyota, leaving Rosario-Jimenez in the parking lot, court records show. A .25 caliber pistol used in the crime was confiscated by investigators from a snow bank next to the parking lot, authorities said.

The other two people who arrived at the Toyota with the mother and Rosario-Jimenez provided investigators with similar reports of the crime, according to court records. Rosario-Jimenez was detained Sunday on Mickley and Gallagher Road in Whitehall Township.

Rosario-Jimenez reportedly admitted to arguing with the father and the shooting in an interview with investigators. He told police he ran from the parking lot and threw the gun in the snow. According to court records, Rosario-Jimenez was not licensed to carry a hidden weapon.

Rosario-Jimenez was charged on Sunday with criminal murder, attempted criminal murder and aggravated assault, and unlicensed carrying of a firearm, all crimes. He was taken to Lehigh County Jail without bail. He will appear for a preliminary court hearing, expected to be held on March 8th at 12:00 noon before District Judge Donna Butler.

In a separate December 2019 case, Rosario-Jimenez was charged with terrorist threats, simple attacks, and reckless endangering. He pleaded guilty to simply assaulting the case, while the other two charges were later withdrawn and, according to court records, were given probation for 12 months.

The 20-year-old was killed in a shootout in front of Walmart in Whitehall last Friday evening, authorities said.

A candlelight vigil among family and friends of the law is planned for this week. The family is planning services for Saturday to be carried out by Bachman, Kulik & Reinsmith Funeral Homes in Allentown.

Her sister Sherrel Law started an online fundraiser to help pay for the funeral expenses. On Monday lunchtime, 95 donors raised $ 5,860, surpassing the family’s financial goal of $ 5,000.

“She was an innocent bystander whose life was taken meaninglessly,” wrote Law’s sister. “Nicolette was the cutest young woman ever, full of life and love. Nicolette loved to laugh and have fun. Her family was her whole world. “

Nathaniel Law II of Georgia, Nicolette’s uncle and her mother’s brother, described his niece to lehighvalleylive.com as “loyal and giving, thoughtful and caring”. She lived with Nathaniel Law in Georgia for much of her youth before returning to Allentown in her sophomore year of high school. Law was employed by ManorCare Health Services in Allentown and had plans to study nursing.

Aside from Nathaniel and Sherrel, Nicolette leaves behind her mother, Natalie Law, of Allentown. Stepmother, Amie Law of Allentown; and her cousins ​​(like siblings to them): Nathaniel Law III; Alexis Law; Alecia Kaelke; and Santana Law; and step cousins, Karl Rosip and Makai and Makaela Adams.

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Pamela Sroka-Holzmann can be reached at [email protected].