By The Star Staff
After hearing the evidence presented by the San Juan Prosecutor’s Office, Judge Yazdel Ramos Colón has determined cause for trial against Jeremy Rafael Serrano Alicea for the 2023 slayings of Franco Medina Angulo and Sergio Palomino Ruiz, two Peruvian students who were visiting Puerto Rico.
The killings took place on the morning of May 6, 2023, outside the Emoji restaurant on Loíza Street in San Juan.
Following an arraignment next week, the start of the trial is scheduled for Sept. 16.
Prosecutors Edmanuel Santiago Quiles and Ángel García Rodríguez presented seven witnesses during the preliminary hearing, which began on May 2.
On March 16 of this year, the San Juan Prosecutor’s Office charged Serrano Alicea with first-degree murder, attempted murder, possession and illegal use of an automatic weapon, and endangering the safety of citizens by shooting a firearm in public. The Court of San Juan found cause for trial on those charges, except for the crime of attempted murder.
According to the investigation of agent Erick Ortiz Rodríguez of the Puerto Rico Police Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Corps (CIC), the master’s degree students from New York University were in front of the commercial establishment waiting for transportation when Serrano Alicea shot them with an automatic firearm, causing their death. Serrano Alicea was arrested on March 15 by agents of the Intelligence and Arrests Division after arriving at the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport on a flight from Baltimore, and was placed in the custody of the San Juan CIC’s Homicide Division.
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