Three charged with murder of man whose body was found in Hagerstown's West End in January
Two Hagerstown men and a city woman have been charged with first-degree murder in the Jan. 26 shooting death of her boyfriend in the city's West End, according to charging documents in Washington County District Court.
Jenaro "JT" James Torres, 26; Emens "E" Lourdy Rho, 40; and Stephanie Nicolle Paulino, 35, also are charged with second-degree murder, first- and second-degree assault and the use of a firearm in the commission of a crime of violence in the shooting death of Kevin Michael Shepherd, 38, of Hagerstown, according to Hagerstown Police and court documents. Torres and Rho have the same South Potomac Street address, in the city's South End, listed in court documents.
Paulino and Shepherd have the same 1203B Marshall St. address.
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Paulino, Torres and Rho all were being held without bond at the Washington County Detention Center on Monday morning. They had bond review hearings scheduled for Monday afternoon.
Hagerstown Police investigation into Kevin Shepherd's murder
Hagerstown Police responded to the area of 1203 Marshall St. around 9:50 a.m. on Jan. 26 and found Shepherd dead with an apparent gunshot wound. Shepherd was found in the driver's seat of a car crashed against a small tree in the alleyway behind the home, according to charging documents.
A detective, in charging documents, wrote that police believe Shepherd was attacked while in the driver's seat and tried to elude his attackers by putting the car in reverse. The car was still in reverse when police found him the morning of Jan. 26.
After questioning Paulino multiple times and finding during the investigation that she lied about her alibi, Paulino allegedly confessed to her involvement in the attack on Shepherd, according to charging documents.
According to charging documents filed by a Hagerstown Police detective, Paulino told police late last week that Shepherd had been assaulting her and "making her life hell." Shepherd refused to move out of her home.
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Paulino, who was temporarily living on South Potomac Street, said she made arrangements for Torres and Rho to go to her house and get Shepherd to leave.
Paulino told police she didn't know the two men were going to shoot Shepherd. She said she thought they were going to assault him and possibly rob him of any money and drugs he had on him, according to charging documents.
She said she thought Torres and Rho were going to get Shepherd to leave her house by threatening him.
Paulino told police she left the South Potomac Street address, the one listed as the home of Torres and Rho, and drove to the area of the shooting in a blue Mazda. She said she knew Torres had a gun.
She parked on Connecticut Avenue and let Torres and Rho out of the Mazda so they could approach Shepherd on foot.
Paulino told police she didn't see what happened, but Torres and Rho told her afterward they got into a fight with Shepherd. Paulino, according to charging documents, told police that Torres told her he shot Shepherd and Rho said he shot Shepherd in the leg. She also was told one of them shot Shepherd in the head.
After the shooting, Torres and Rho ran back to the Mazda and Paulino drove back to the South Potomac Street home. There, she talked to the two men about what happened. Torres and Rho allegedly told her they were not able to get anything from Shepherd, that Shepherd started fighting with them and that they both shot him, charging documents state.
One witness reported seeing a male appear to be sleeping in the driver's seat of a parked gray Honda, whose engine was running, behind 1201 and 1203 Marshall St. around 7:30 a.m. Sometime later, the witness heard gunshots from the backyard area and looked out to see two men running away from the Honda, which was parked against a tree in the grass alleyway, according to charging documents.
Multiple witnesses reported hearing gunshots that morning and the night prior.
Torres and Rho were taken into custody on Friday shortly before 8:30 p.m., according to Hagerstown Police.
Paulino also charged in connection with Shippensburg home invasion
At the time Paulino confessed, she had been arrested on drug charges after a search and seizure warrant served on her home resulted in police finding assorted drugs, according to charging documents and the online case docket for the drug case.
Paulino also has been charged by Pennsylvania State Police with conspiracy to commit robbery and inflict serious bodily injury, and other charges, for a Jan. 21 home invasion in Shippensburg, according to Maryland charging documents and Paulino's Pennsylvania case docket.
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In the Pennsylvania case, the victim's house was shot at about 10 times, according to Maryland charging documents.
Shell casings recovered from the Pennsylvania case, the homicide scene in Hagerstown's West End and from a Marshall Street shooting on Jan. 25 were examined. Examinations by the Frederick (Md.) County Sheriff's Office and a crime gun intelligence specialist for the ATF showed the casings from the three events were linked, according to the Maryland charging documents.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Hagerstown Police charge three people in the murder of Kevin Shepherd
