A Whitehall man has been charged in the Feb. 26 shooting of two people, one of whom has died, in a parking lot in the 2600 block of MacArthur Road.

Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin and Whitehall Township Police Chief Michael Marks announced Feb. 28 that Edward Joel Rosario-Jimenez, 23, has been charged with criminal homicide, attempted criminal homicide and aggravated assault, all felonies of the first degree, and carrying a firearm without a license, a felony of the third degree.

Nicolette Law, 20, of Allentown, was one of the shooting victims and died later that night.

According to a report from the district attorney’s office, Whitehall Township officers responded just before 7 p.m. Feb. 26 to a call of shots fired in the Walmart parking lot. Upon their arrival, officers found two victims with gunshot wounds near a parked car. The car’s engine was still running, the report said.

Investigators reviewed video surveillance footage from Walmart that showed a vehicle belonging to one of the victims arriving and parking in the merchandise pickup area of the parking lot. A few minutes later, a black Toyota sport utility vehicle entered the same parking area and stopped directly in front of the victim’s vehicle.

Several victims and witnesses were interviewed by police. One person told police she had gone to the Walmart parking lot to pick up her child, who is also the child of one of the shooting victims. The person also told police she arrived in the Toyota SUV with Rosario-Jimenez and two other people. According to this person’s account, given to police, Rosario- Jimenez allegedly got into an argument with one of the victims. The person told police she heard gunshots and then left in the Toyota, but Rosario-Jimenez remained in the parking lot.

According to police, another witness recounted seeing Rosario-Jimenez allegedly fire several gunshots at the victims.

Police said a handgun was found in a snowbank adjacent to where the shooting took place.

Law was pronounced dead, less than an hour after the shooting, at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest. Lehigh County Coroner Eric D. Minnich ruled the cause of death as gunshot wounds to the body and the manner of death a homicide.

An autopsy was scheduled for March 1.

The second victim also received medical treatment. No other information on that person was available at press time.

An initial report of a possible child abduction was later determined to be unfounded, Martin said.

A continuing investigation is being handled by Whitehall Township Police Department, Lehigh County Homicide Task Force, Lehigh County District Attorney’s Office and Lehigh County Coroner’s Office.