Four have been charged with Thursday night’s slaying of a 17-year old high school student in East Bradford. From top left clockwise, Darrell Woodward, Onray Winfield, Gerald Myers and Byron Stevens.
Local law enforcement officials tell a chilling story of a West Chester-area high school student who was brutally killed over a small amount of marijuana and $30 and left to die from a gunshot to the chest on an East Bradford roadway Thursday night.
Cristian Santiago, 17, who was about to start his senior year at West Chester Henderson High School was killed after allegedly meeting three individuals at a West Chester gas station to sell them a small amount of marijuana, police said.
Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan described the killing as a planned act — one individual who knew Santiago, Onray Winfield, arranging to have him meet up with Gerald Myers for an alleged drug deal. Hogan said that Winfield knew Myers — along with Darrell Woodward and Byron Stevens of Coatesvile — planned to rob Santiago.
“This case is a prime example of a brutal and senseless killing,” Hogan said in a statement. “The victim is dead, leaving behind a grieving family. The defendants are facing murder charges. All over a little marijuana and a few dollars.”
After meeting Myers, Woodward and Stevens at the gas station, Santiago was allegedly driven off by the trio. Police said he was shot in the chest at close range and robbed of $30 and about 1/4 ounce of marijuana. He was then dumped on the 700 block of Hillsdale Road, where he apparently died of his wound. His body was discovered by a passing motorist after 10 p.m., Thursday evening.
All four face charges of conspiracy, murder, robbery, and related offenses and remain in custody at Chester County Prison in Pocopson.
