A night out at a Reading hotel turned deadly in the early hours of Sunday, April 5, 2026. Jorge Luis Ocasio-Ortiz, 57, a Reading resident born in Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico, and a chef at Franklyn’s Breakfast and Burgers, was found in a first-floor hallway of the DoubleTree by Hilton on Penn Street with a single gunshot wound. EMS took him to Reading Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 1:25 a.m.

Police say the shooting grew out of an earlier altercation after a concert at the hotel. Witnesses reported that 46-year-old Hamlet Vargas of Fairfield, Ohio, left the hotel, retrieved a firearm from his vehicle in the parking garage, returned to join a fight and fired one shot that struck Ocasio-Ortiz, who was not involved in the dispute. Vargas was arrested at the scene and charged with first-degree murder, third-degree murder, and aggravated assault; he was held without bail with a preliminary hearing set for April 17, 2026.

The mayor called the shooting a tragic, isolated incident and offered condolences to the family. If anyone was at the concert or in the hotel that night and has information, please come forward.