A Delco man killed a driver with a stolen gun on I-95, causing a crash that killed a third man, police say
Marquice Pierce told his friends he accidentally shot Clinton Martin as the two were driving on the highway in Ridley Township, police said. Martin then crashed into Joshua Waltz, who also died.
A Chester man was driving with a suspended license and handling a stolen gun in September when he shot another motorist, who then crashed and killed a third person standing on the shoulder of the highway next to his disabled vehicle, police said Tuesday.
Marquice Pierce, 32, has been charged with murder, firearms offenses, receiving stolen property, and related crimes in the Sept. 13 deaths of Clinton Martin, 29, and Joshua Waltz, 33. He remained in custody Tuesday, denied bail, and there was no indication he had hired an attorney.
Martin was on his way to meet friends at a bar in Upper Darby when he was shot in the neck through his Mazda 5′s driver-side window on I-95 near I-476 in Ridley Township, according to Pennsylvania State Police. He lost control of the sedan and veered onto the road’s shoulder, where Waltz had stopped to retrieve something from the trunk of his Chevrolet Malibu.
Waltz, who left behind a 7-month-old child and a fiancée, died in the collision.
Pierce told friends that the shooting was accidental, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest. But rather than report the crime to Pennsylvania State Police — who had posted a $4,000 reward for information about the shooting amid pleas for help from Martin’s family — Pierce dropped the gun down a storm drain in Swarthmore authorities say.
Detectives were able to piece together the events of that night, and trace them back to Pierce, using witness interviews, automated license-plate readers on the highway, and DNA evidence, the affidavit said.
For Martin’s family, the grief in losing him had been made more painful by the unanswered questions surrounding his death, according to his mother, Constance Newton.
But Newton said Tuesday she was “overjoyed” at the news that investigators said they had found the man responsible.
“I feel such a relief that the person who did this is off the street. He took two lives that day,” Newton said. “My son was loved, he will be missed, and he will never be forgotten.”
State police first contacted Pierce after highway cameras recorded his Hyundai Azera driving near Martin’s vehicle shortly before the shooting and crash, the affidavit said. In an interview three days after the shooting, Pierce admitted he had been in the area at that time but denied seeing the crash or hearing any gunfire.
However, a witness, whom police did not identify, contacted detectives to contradict that statement, saying Pierce had discussed the shooting privately with friends and told them where he had disposed of the gun.
Detectives eventually located a 9mm Smith & Wesson handgun in a storm drain in Swarthmore, along with ammunition that matched the caliber of the bullet that killed Martin, the affidavit said.
Forensic tests showed that fatal shot had been fired by the handgun, which had been reported stolen from New Castle, Del., in 2019.
Police later stopped Pierce as he was driving in Chester, and he agreed to answer questions about the shooting, the affidavit said. During that interview, he said he had been driving his car in the area where the shooting took place, and told investigators he went to visit a friend in Swarthmore later that night.
Detectives served a search warrant on Pierce’s Hyundai, which tested positive for gunshot residue on its passenger side, and a subsequent analysis of Pierce’s DNA found that it was a match for DNA found on the gun recovered in Swarthmore, according to the affidavit.
Staff writer Rodrigo Torrejón contributed to this article.