Texas man charged

A Texas man has been charged in the death of a Lower Macungie Township man who was fatally shot last month in the parking lot of the apartment complex where he lived.

Alexander Adrian Brown, 25, of Houston, Texas, was charged by Pennsylvania State Police Oct. 29 in the death of 59-year-old Gary A. Wragg of 1037G Village Round.

Brown is in the Harris County Jail in Texas where he is being held on separate charges of kidnapping and robbery unrelated to this case, Lehigh County District Attorney James B. Martin said.

Those cases, which resulted from recent arrests, are pending in Texas and Brown will be extradited to Pennsylvania following disposition of those cases, Martin said.

An affidavit of probable cause filed by the Pennsylvania State Police, Fogelsville Station, Criminal Investigation Unit, alleges: At about 11:44 p.m. Oct. 4, the Pennsylvania State Police received a report of several gunshots fired in the rear parking lot area of the Meadowyck Condominiums on Village Round, Lower Macungie Township.

Troopers responding to the scene saw a man lying face down on the ground. The victim, who was identified as Wragg, was pronounced dead by a Lehigh County deputy coroner.

State police processed the scene and recovered nine spent .40-caliber casings in the immediate area.

During an autopsy, four .40-caliber projectiles were recovered from the Wragg's body. The cause of death was determined to be multiple gunshot wounds. The manner of death was ruled homicide.

The State Police Ballistics Laboratory examined the projectiles and determined they may have come from two models of Smith and Wesson handguns, one of which was identified as a Smith and Wesson Model #SD 40VE.

State police interviewed a neighbor who was outside when she heard voices and saw two people talking to each other near the victim's vehicle. The witness said she saw the victim walk away from the other person, who followed the victim and extended his right arm toward the victim's back. The witness reported seeing flashes and hearing gunshots. The witness said the man continued to shoot the victim while the victim yelled for help.

The witness gave state police a description of the shooter and said the shooter fled in a black-colored sport utility vehicle. Another resident of the complex told state police she heard multiple gunshots and saw a Nissan Xterra leaving the complex.

State police determined a tan Xterra belonging to Brown's former girlfriend, who lives in Texas, was used when Brown allegedly abducted the girlfriend in September and drove to New York.

State police learned Brown allegedly had spray painted the vehicle black and the vehicle had been seen in the parking lot of the Lower Macungie Township complex the day of the shooting.

When Brown was arrested in Houston Oct. 12, he allegedly was driving an Xterra partially spray painted orange and black and displaying a license plate stolen from a vehicle in New Jersey.

Houston Police Department officers searched the vehicle and found a .40-caliber Smith and Wesson handgun Model #SD 40VE. The handgun was test fired and the projectiles were analyzed by the Pennsylvania State Police Ballistics Laboratory. It was determined the projectiles used in the test firing by Texas authorities matched the projectiles recovered from the body of Gary A. Wragg.

When Pennsylvania State Police interviewed Brown in Harris County, he said he shot a white male numerous times in the Meadowyck parking lot.

Martin thanked the Harris County District Attorney's Office, the Harris County Sheriff's Office, the Houston Police Department, the Allentown Police Department, which was involved in an attempt to locate Brown and the New York Police Department, which assisted in the collection of evidence in one of the Harris County cases.

As in every criminal case, the fact an arrest has occurred or a complaint has been filed is merely an accusation and the defendant, Alexander Adrian Brown, is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.