More than 30 people gathered outside the Lancaster city home Monday evening where a police officer shot and killed 29-year-old Ricardo Avenia the night before.

Officials said Avenia was shot after holding a woman at gunpoint inside the home in the 500 block of Pershing Avenue.

“None of us have gotten sleep since last night,” neighborhood resident Linda Rosario said as a misty drizzle fell. “This should have never happened.”

A neighbor called 911 around 10 p.m. Sunday to report children at the home were yelling that their father was going to kill their mother, and she was being beaten, Lancaster County District Attorney Craig Stedman said during a press briefing early Monday afternoon.

Avenia lived at the home with the woman, 27, and two children.

The front porch of the row home became a memorial site for Avenia, better known in the community as “Macho.” Speakers across the street played “I’ll Be Missing You” by Puff Daddy and Faith Evans as people made their way up the home’s front steps to pay their respects and hug one another.

The plyboard used to cover a smashed window was repurposed into a memory wall, while much of the floor was covered with dozens of lit candles; the words “RIP to my soldier Macho!” were spray painted on an elevated lawn wall.

‘They left his body there for hours’

Lancaster County Coroner Dr. Stephen Diamantoni said his office was called to the scene a little after 8 a.m. Monday.

Rosario, a six-year resident of the neighborhood, said that was one of the many problems community members saw regarding the incident.

“They left his body there for hours, and we had so many ambulances come and go with nothing,” she said.

Howard Avenue resident Melody Williams, who went to the location of the shooting after seeing posts on social media about the incident, said several people talked about how two ambulances arrived but left without taking anyone.

Diamantoni said Avenia’s body was brought to the forensic center, and an autopsy will be performed to determine the official cause and manner of death.

The district attorney's office said shots were not fired at police, and the gun Avenia had was recovered at the scene.

City police Chief Jarrad Berkihiser said the officer who shot Avenia is on administrative leave “as a matter of standard operating procedure” during an investigation into the incident.

District attorney’s office spokesman Brett Hambright declined to answer whether verbal commands were issued by police prior to the shooting.

‘Tense’ crowd gathered overnight

Within hours of the incident, a crowd of dozens of people were gathered near the corner of Pershing Avenue and Dauphin Street and remained late overnight into Monday, according to Williams.

Sign up for our newsletter Success! An email has been sent with a link to confirm list signup. Error! There was an error processing your request.

Several Lancaster County police departments and state police came to the scene to “assist with crowd control,” the district attorney’s office said. About a dozen officers stood lined up behind a row of police barricades.

The crowd was verbally aggressive in some cases, Williams said. Live videos archived on Facebook included people using expletives.

One person tried to cross the barricade but was stopped by neighbors.

“After I was there quite a while, it became apparent that there wasn’t any effort toward de-escalation on the officers’ part,” Williams said.

Some people said the police officer shot Avenia while outside the home. The officer shot through a window, and the bullet traveled through a flat-screen television before striking Avenia, Rosario said Monday evening.

The district attorney’s office declined to specify the officer’s location.

Kevin Ressler said he walked to the scene after seeing social media posts about it. The community leader, who lives two blocks away, described the crowd as tense and fearful. He said the police wouldn’t give updates on what was happening.

“The crowd was mostly family and neighbors in trauma, and the refusal increased the tension,” Ressler said.

He noted that domestic violence issues should be taken seriously.

“There’s the justification of it being an incident with a need for officers to respond to. Then there’s the issue of community police relations,” Ressler said. “The community should trust our officers enough that they shouldn’t have to wait and see what the investigation shows.”

Ongoing investigation

Stedman said his office is still gathering information and asked anyone with information on events leading up to the incident to contact the district attorney’s office at 717-299-8100 and ask to speak to a detective.

Stedman will review the incident and eventually make a determination on the use of force, as is protocol in police-involved shootings in Lancaster County.

The office of Lancaster Mayor Danene Sorace declined to comment, citing the district attorney's investigation.

Lancaster NAACP president Blanding Watson issued a statement Monday morning stating the organization is gathering facts, seeking answers and calling for any witnesses.

“The NAACP is still investigating the matter and reserves further comment until further investigation is completed. The NAACP extends condolences to the family and victims involved in this incident,” Watson said in the emailed statement.