MEDIA RELEASE: HOMICIDE ARREST
Today District Attorney Jim Martin and Allentown Police Chief Charles Roca announce an arrest in a homicide.
Obadiah Whack, DOB 3/8/1994/ of Allentown, is charged with one count each of Criminal Homicide and Person Not to Possess a Firearm; both felonies of the first degree; and Discharge of a Firearm into an Occupied Structure, a felony of the third degree.
Shortly after 2 a.m. on Sept. 29, 2023, the Allentown Police Department was called for a shooting at 628 North Law Street. The victim, identified as 35-year-old Giselle Trabal, was found with a gunshot wound to her chest area. She later succumbed to her injuries and her death was ruled a homicide by Lehigh County Coroner Dan Buglio.
Trabal was inside a first-floor apartment and one discharged 9-millimeter cartridge casing was found in the hallway adjacent to the front door of the apartment. The front door had one bullet hole in it and it is alleged that Whack fired through the door, striking Trabal.
Witnesses whose names will not be released provided information on the shooter including a description and registration plate of the vehicle he fled in. The investigation revealed that person was Whack who was eventually taken into custody at an apartment at 315 N. 14th Street in Allentown. He has been held in Lehigh County Jail on an active arrest warrant from Warren County, New Jersey, since taken into custody.
The investigation also revealed that the bullet that killed Trabal was fired from a gun that belonged to Whack and was recovered.
Contrary to previously published reports, this is the 15th (not 16th) homicide which has occurred in the City of Allentown year to date. Of those 15 homicides, 12 are criminal homicides; 3 have been ruled “justified” and, therefore, not criminal; i.e., no charges will be filed.
As in every criminal case, the fact that an arrest has occurred or a complaint has been filed is merely an accusation; and the defendant, Obadiah Whack, is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
