On Oct. 7, District Attorney Gavin P. Holihan announced a state prison sentence for a man who pleaded guilty to a 2022 Allentown homicide and attempted homicide.

Frederick Antwan Marks Jr., 26, of Bath, pleaded to charges of murder of the third degree, conspiracy to commit murder of the third degree and aggravated assault.

Marks was sentenced Oct. 6 before Judge Thomas M. Caffrey. Marks will serve 15-30 years in state prison and 10 years of probation upon his release.

On Aug. 31, 2022, Marks was reportedly inside a vehicle with several co-defendants who agreed to meet victim Bless Jones at Trout Creek Park in Allentown. While enroute to the park, Jones was ambushed by Marks and his co-defendants.

During that ambush, 13 rounds were fired at the car from a 9 mm handgun modified with a Glock switch. The Glock switch allows a semi-automatic handgun to fire as fully automatic, and the 13 rounds were fired in approximately one second.

Najeer Lane, 22, of Allentown, was killed at the scene of the shooting, but Jones escaped and drove to his home. Lane died from a gunshot wound to the back, and his death was ruled a homicide by the Lehigh County coroner.

Less than one hour later, Marks and his co-defendants arrived at Jones’ home and fired 12 rounds at Jones and a second person. Both victims were not injured.

Marks’ co-defendants received lengthy state prison sentences.

In April, Xavier Grenon was convicted of conspiracy to commit criminal homicide, attempt to commit criminal homicide and aggravated assault. He was sentenced to serve 18 years and nine months-40 years in state prison.

A second co-defendant, Legious Robert Minder Jr., was also charged in the homicide and attempted homicide. In 2025, Minder pleaded guilty to murder of the third degree and related charges and was sentenced to serve 40 to 80 years in prison.

These cases were investigated by Allentown Police Sgt. Harold Bonser and Detective Amaury Almonte, of the Lehigh County Homicide Task Force, as well as Lehigh County’s 12th Investigating Grand Jury.

These cases were prosecuted by Chief Deputy District Attorney Bethany S. Zampogna and Senior Deputy District Attorney Patricia Turzyn.