District Attorney Gavin P. Holihan and Whitehall Township Police Department Chief Michael Marks announced an arrest in a homicide investigation.

Christian Martinez-Ramos, 35, of Allentown, is charged with criminal homicide and aggravated assault with knowingly or recklessly extreme indifference, both felonies of the first degree; and misdemeanor charges of possessing instruments of crime/weapon, criminal mischief of tampering with property and recklessly endangering another person.

Martinez-Ramos was arraigned Dec. 11 and is in Lehigh County Jail without bail. His preliminary hearing was scheduled for 1:15 p.m. Dec. 17.

Whitehall Township police responded to a shooting in the parking lot of Loco Hot Deals, 1155 MacArthur Road, just after 6 p.m. Dec. 7. Officers found Hector Garcia Gomez with multiple gunshot wounds to his abdomen, and he was taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest.

Gomez succumbed to his injuries and was later pronounced dead.

Gomez, 46, of Palmerton, died of multiple gunshot wounds to the torso, and his death was ruled a homicide by Lehigh County Coroner Daniel A. Buglio. Video surveillance showed Gomez’s vehicle arriving at the store. While his wife stayed inside the car, Gomez went into the store for several minutes as the suspect’s vehicle pulled into the parking lot.

As Gomez left the store and began to get inside his car, the suspect vehicle parked behind him and multiple gunshots were fired at Gomez from inside the suspect vehicle.

The suspect vehicle fled the scene, but the license plate on the vehicle was obtained by a license plate reader and came back to a different vehicle owned by Martinez-Ramos.

The investigation revealed Gomez had a previous disturbance involving Martinez-Ramos, resulting in two physical fights and threats made via cellphone text messages and phone calls.

Text messages discovered later indicate Martinez-Ramos texted a third party approximately 30 minutes after the shooting saying he intended to “burn the car and tell the owner it was reported stolen.” The same third party with whom Martinez-Ramos texted told investigators that Martinez-Ramos admitted he shot Gomez.

This case was investigated by Whitehall police Detective Lindsay Yetter and Lehigh County Homicide Task Force Detectives James Bruchak, Timothy Salgado and Amaury Almonte and will be prosecuted by Senior Deputy District Attorney James A. Augustine.

As in every criminal case, the fact that an arrest occurred or a complaint has been filed is merely an accusation. The defendant, Christian Martinez-Ramos, is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.