NORRISTOWN — Nine members of the Pagans Outlaw Motorcycle Gang are charged in connection with a shootout with members of a rival biker gang on the parking lot of a Wawa in West Norriton Township during which six people, including two innocent bystanders, were wounded.
Those charged hail from Montgomery and Berks counties and include: Manuel Baez-Santos, 34, of the 600 block of Kohn Street, Norristown; Erik Dixon, 33, of the 500 block of Kingwood Road, Upper Merion; Erik P. Rosenberger, 46, of the 400 block of Blaker Drive, East Greenville; Joel Hernandez-Martinez, 36, of the 300 block of West Sixth Street, Bridgeport; George T. Cwienk III, 51, of the unit block of Seventh Street, Bridgeport; George Hripto Jr., 50, of the 200 block of East Fourth Street, Bridgeport; Jason William Lawless, 45, of the 500 block of Grove Street, Bridgeport; Luke Clayton Higgins, 29, of the 300 block of Bellemans Church Road, Dauberville; and Justin Ray Noll, 34, of the 600 block of Memorial Highway, Fleetwood.
The suspects face charges of aggravated and simple assault, conspiracy, riot and recklessly endangering other persons in connection with the 9:12 p.m. Oct 17, 2025, shootout that occurred on the parking lot of the Wawa in the 2500 block of West Main Street in West Norriton.
Eight of the men, Dixon, Hripto, Hernandez-Martinez, Rosenberger, Cwienk, Higgins, Lawless and Baez-Santos, were all held on $500,000 cash bail after their preliminary arraignments on Thursday.
Bail for Noll was set at $50,000 unsecured due to his ongoing medical treatment.
The eight men held on $500,000 cash bail each appeared in court via a video hookup from the county jail on Friday afternoon and requested bail reductions. Their defense lawyers presented various arguments, including that the men had ties to the community and were not risks to flee if released on reduced or own recognizance bail or that the charges were unfounded.
But Judge Steven T. O’Neill denied the requests, saying the alleged incident was like the “Wild Wild West comes to Wawa.”
“The level of violence is nothing less than scary. These are extremely serious charges. This was a public neighborhood at a Wawa where multiple people were shot. The allegations are nothing short of scary. Until further determination is made, they are a danger to the community,” O’Neill said.
Assistant District Attorney John Gradel opposed bail reductions for the eight men, or, in the alternative, raising the bail to $1 million for each.
“I believe they are a danger to the community. I submit if they are released, the likelihood of retaliation is high,” Gradel argued to the judge.
Gradel argued the men were members of the Pagans who observed two members of the rival Unknown Bikers Motorcycle Gang pumping gas at the Wawa, surrounded them and began physically assaulting them in an attempt to remove their so-called “colors.”
“A shootout ensued, resulting in six different people being shot,” Gradel argued. “Police recovered 14 fired shell casings at the scene.”
A male bystander was shot in the face just below his eye while he was putting air in his vehicle’s tire, and a female bystander was shot in her torso as she stood at the door of the store, authorities alleged. Additionally, three members of the Pagans were shot, and one member of the rival biker club was shot.
The investigation began about 9:12 p.m. when West Norriton police responded to the Wawa for a report of a shooting. The store manager reportedly locked the store and had customers hiding in the rear of the store.
The investigation determined that two members of the Unknown Bikers Motorcycle Gang arrived at the Wawa about 9:08 p.m. and were pumping gas when they were confronted by nine members of the Pagans Oulaw Motorcycle Gang.
“Through review of various video sources, the Pagans bypassed the initial entrance to the Wawa and then entered a secondary entrance and immediately worked in tandem surrounding the two members of the Unknown Bikers Gang,” county Detective David Holtzman and West Norriton Detective Robert Scotti alleged in the arrest affidavit, adding “the collective nature of their movements was not to intimidate but to overpower the rival group.”
Almost immediately upon the arrival of the Pagans, a physical confrontation erupted, and a video source depicted multiple Pagans physically assaulting a rival biker, detectives alleged.
“The area then erupts in gunfire,” Holtzman and Scotti alleged, adding that both groups were armed. “The area of the Wawa Convenience store then became a chaotic scene. People were observed running, hiding and the store was locked down with the customers hidden in the back.”
The Pagans quickly departed the shooting area and several of them were later stopped by law enforcement.
Detectives said the Wawa parking lot is a busy location with a steady flow of customer traffic.
“Law enforcement reviewed various video angles and identified approximately 23 individuals placed at risk of death or serious bodily injury. This danger was instigated by the actions of the Pagans,” Holtzman and Scotti alleged. “The collective manner in which the Pagans entered the parking lot, positioned themselves and promptly started attacking the other individuals revealed a conscious disregard for the safety of employees, patrons of Wawa and their rivals.”
Detectives alleged “none of the victims involved in this incident would have suffered gunshot wounds if the Pagans had not entered the Wawa parking (lot) and initiated an attack on a rival motorcycle gang.”
Information about the shooting was broadcast to area police. Norristown police subsequently spotted four motorcycles and five Pagan members traveling eastbound on Main Street. After pulling them over, Norristown police found that three of the members, Cwienk, Hernandez-Martinez and Noll, had been shot and they were transported to area hospitals for treatment of wounds to the ankle, foot and chest.
All nine men face Nov. 10 preliminary hearings on the charges before District Court Judge Marc Alfarano. Prosecutors Libby Hemler and Bradley Walter Deckel are handling the case.
The investigation was conducted by members of the Montgomery County Detective Bureau’s Violent Crime Unit, the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Gun Violence Reduction Task Force, Pennsylvania State Police, the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General’s Gun Violence Task Force and police from West Norriton, Upper Merion, Norristown and Bridgeport.
