Aggravated Assault, 400 Block Birch Street - 

On April 10, 2021 at 1:30 AM, the Kennett Square Police Department responded to incident involving a shooting into an occupied residence. Through investigation two subjects have been identified and arrests warrants have been issued for both.  Subject 1, Christian Sanchez-Franco, is an adult male 18 years of age.   Suspect 2 , Ivan Castano-Castaneda, is a juvenile male 17 years of age, who has been charged as an adult due to the nature of the offenses, after approval was obtained from the Chester County District Attorney's Office to proceed.  Both subjects are charged with 3 counts of aggravated assault, weapons offenses, recklessly endangering another person, and related assault offenses after they walked to the victim's house and stood outside it firing 5 rounds from a semiautomatic handgun into and in the direction of the bedroom of the house where three people were located at the time of the incident.  The suspects fled the scene and were later identified through extensive investigation in the days following the incident.

Investigation has determined that this was not a random incident but instead is related to a verbal altercation between a resident at the targeted house and the offenders.

Criminal complaints were filed against each party and arrest warrants were then obtained for both subjects. 

Over the days following the incident, Detectives of the Kennett Square Police Department Criminal Investigation Division diligently continued the investigative efforts into locating and apprehending both wanted subjects.  On April 15, 2021 the investigation revealed a potential location in Delaware.  Detectives conducted surveillance on the location where both wanted subjects were then observed.  The subjects left that location by vehicle at which point the Delaware State Police attempted to conduct a traffic stop on the suspect vehicle.  The vehicle immediately fled from Law Enforcement and subsequently crashed as it entered Pennsylvania in the area of Newark Road and Broad Run Road in New Garden Township, Chester County Pennsylvania.   An uninvolved vehicle was struck by the suspect vehicle at the time of the crash.  The adult female driver of that uninvolved vehicle was taken by ambulance for observation. 

As a result of the accident, both subjects were taken into custody without injury along with an uninvolved adult female who was in the suspect vehicle at the time of the crash.  Two firearms were recovered that had been thrown from the suspect vehicle just prior to the crash.

Additional charges are being filed by the Delaware State Police and the Southern Chester County Regional Police Department for criminal acts involved during the pursuit and at the scene of the crash.  The Kennett Square Police Department wishes to thank both agencies for their assistance during this investigation.