A Philadelphia man has been sentenced to state prison after pleading guilty to a shooting last year outside the Oxford Valley Mall that wounded a bystander and triggered panic.
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Shannon James Lewis, 31, entered his guilty plea Monday at the Bucks County Justice Center for charges including aggravated assault, carrying a firearm without a license, receiving stolen property, terroristic threats, reckless endangerment, and possession of an instrument of crime.
Credit: Falls Township police
Court of Common Pleas Judge Wallace Bateman sentenced Lewis to three to six years in state custody. The judge granted Lewis six months of credit for time already served and placed him on home confinement with electronic monitoring until August 7 when he is required to report to state prison to begin his sentence.
Lewis has been out on bail since February.
The charges stem from a shooting that happened around 5 p.m. on Thursday, June 19, 2025, near a SEPTA bus stop outside the mall’s JCPenney store in Middletown Township.
Credit: Natalie Grimmer/LevittownNow.com
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Responding officers found a victim inside the mall who had been shot in the left forearm while waiting for a bus, police said.
The shooting caused shoppers to flee for cover and sparked local alarm as reports of the gunfire spread.
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According to court documents, the victim stated that an unknown man approached him at the bus stop and asked if he was from Trenton. When the victim declined to answer, the suspect pulled a revolver and fired.
One witness told police she saw the suspect retrieve a revolver from a bookbag before shooting the victim.
A second witness told police they heard the victim ask, “you really pulling the heater out?” just before the weapon was discharged and the shooter fled.
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Detectives used mall security footage, witness descriptions, SEPTA transit card records, and digital forensics to identify Lewis as the suspect, police said.
Cellphone and Snapchat data placed Lewis at the mall shortly before the shooting. Data showed he arrived on a bus from Falls Township and remained on his phone until minutes before the gunfire, police said.
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Phone data tracking stopped at 5:23 p.m. near the Woodbourne Train Station, mirroring the flight path seen on surveillance video, before resuming around 11 p.m. near Lewis’ Philadelphia residence.
Middletown Township Police Chief Joseph Bartorilla said last year that Lewis was arrested at his Philadelphia apartment by Middletown Township detectives, the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office, and Philadelphia police.
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A search of the apartment led to the clothing worn during the shooting and the revolver being located, police said.
The chief said the gun had been previously reported stolen in Bucks County.
Authorities have not disclosed a motive for the shooting.
