15-year-old charged as an adult in fatal shooting of a homeless man outside Pottstown transportation center

A 15-year-old will face first-degree murder charges as an adult after fatally shooting a homeless man less than a block from the Pottstown Borough Police Department, Montgomery County prosecutors said Saturday.

Investigators say Thomas James Niarhos, of Stowe, shot Jeremiah Waylon Hawkins, 39, in the face at point-blank range during an altercation just after noon Wednesday near the entrance to the Charles W. Dickinson Transportation Center, along South Hanover Road.

Several witnesses saw the shooting, including some who detained Niarhos as he tried to flee through the parking lot of the nearby Blue Elephant Restaurant until police arrived to arrest him.

According to an arrest affidavit filed in his case, Niarhos approached Hawkins, who many of the witnesses said they knew as “Jay,” while the older man was walking his bike past the transportation center and began shouting at him.

Several of them told police they heard Niarhos accuse Hawkins of sexual assault, before pulling out a .40-caliber Smith and Wesson semiautomatic.

Surveillance video showed Hawkins attempting to swat the gun out of Niarhos’ hand with the tire of his bicycle. But before he could do so the teen shot him once, dropping Hawkins instantly to the ground, police said.

Niarhos shot Hawkins again as he fell, the arrest affidavit states, and then tossed the gun and ran.

Two of the witnesses that pursued Niarhos and eventually held him in the parking lot across the street told police they were family friends of the teenager and described him as inconsolable after the shooting.

As police took Niarhos into custody, officers said he repeatedly shouted that Hawkins was a rapist and urged them not to help him.

Niarhos had made similar allegations against Hawkins as early as July, court documents said — when he told officers who’d stopped him for loitering near the location of Wednesday’s shooting that Hawkins had sexually assaulted a 16-year-old girl behind a nearby Dumpster.

Investigators said when they approached the girl’s family this summer, they declined to participate in an investigation or press charges.

As of Saturday, Niarhos was being held without bail at the Montgomery Youth Center in Norristown.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Thursday in his case.