Three of Scranton’s finest received Top Cops Honorable Mention awards from the National Association of Police Organizations for their exceptional actions in January 2024.
Deputy Chief Joseph Lafferty, Detective Jason Hyler and Detective Kyle Gilmartin received the awards for their fearless response to a series of shootings on Jan. 11, 2024, which ultimately left Gilmartin with a near-fatal gunshot would to his head.
On that fateful night, the three were investigating two shootings overnight in South Side and the Hill Section.
They identified a gray 2006 Ford Fusion and two young men as suspects livestreaming on Instagram and forecasting more trouble ahead in the Hyde Park neighborhood of West Scranton.
The three officers responded to that area and spotted the Ford Fusion near the 500 block of North Decker Court.
There, within moments, a young man walked up to the officers’ black Chevrolet Impala and pulled out a .38 Special handgun.
“He got a gun,” yelled Gilmartin, who was seated in the front passenger seat.
The gunman fired five shots at point-blank range into the sedan’s passenger-side windows.
Gilmartin was shot twice in the head, critically wounded.
Lafferty, who was driving the police sedan, returned fire, striking the gunman several times as he ran back to the Ford and collapsed near the vehicle.
Gilmartin, who was rushed to Geisinger Community Medical Center, survived the shooting.
The community rallied around Gilmartin, hosting multiple fundraisers and providing him a hero’s welcome when he returned home on March 1, after several weeks at a rehabilitation facility.
Awaiting justice
More than a year later, the community is now awaiting justice pending criminal prosecution of Gilmartin’s accused shooter, Aiden Deininger, 21, of Old Forge, who is charged with three counts of attempted murder of law enforcement officers and other violations, and his co-defendant, Jeremiah Cleveland, 20, of Mayfield, who faces gun charges in connection with the two related shootings earlier in the evening.
Deininger was 20 and Cleveland was 19 at the time of the shooting.
Gilmartin faced Deininger and Cleveland at a preliminary hearing in February.
During that hearing, the prosecution showed police body camera footage that depicted the shooting.
Also shown was an Instagram Live recording, which prosecutors said showed Deininger deciding to go to Hyde Park related to a dispute involving a comment on the Instagram feed.
That recording also depicts Cleveland, who was not at the scene of the shooting, discussing Deininger’s decision to go there with a gun, prosecutors said.
Lauding top cops
“The TOP COPS Awards provide an opportunity for all of us to recognize the brave men and women in America’s law enforcement community who selflessly put their lives on the line day in and day out,” NAPO President Michael McHale said in a release. “Law enforcement officers care deeply about the citizens and communities they serve, and this honor is one way of letting them know their contributions are not taken for granted.”
“We are beyond proud to have them as part of our Law Enforcement Family protecting our community,” Scranton police said in a post to their official Facebook page.
Jim Lockwood, staff writer, contributed to this article.