November 26, 2023
THOM CARROLL/for PhillyVoice
15-year-old Thomas Niarhos was charged with murder as an adult after allegedly shooting a homeless man named Jeremiah Waylon Hawkins to death outside a bus terminal in Pottstown, Montgomery County, Pa. last Wednesday.
A 15-year-old will face first-degree murder charges as an adult for killing a homeless man in Pottstown last week.
Thomas Niarhos is accused of shooting 39-year-old Jeremiah Waylan Hawkins in the face at close range following a verbal altercation outside the Charles W. Dickinson Transportation Center on Wednesday, Montgomery County prosecutors said.
Niarhos was charged with first-degree murder, third-degree murder, firearm possession by a minor and possessing an instrument of crime.
The incident happened shortly around 12:00 p.m. Wednesday after Niarhos allegedly confronted Hawkins outside the bus terminal at South Hanover Street and Security Plaza. Niarhos then revealed a .40-caliber rifle and after a brief altercation, shot Hawkins in the face, prosecutors said.
The weapon was later recovered at the scene and then allegedly revealed to be owned by Niarhos’s father, authorities said.
Police responding to the scene found Hawkins with a gunshot wound to his head and rushed him to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Niarhos was arrested nearby after being detained by eyewitnesses who prevented him from fleeing the scene.
Niarhos repeatedly accused Hawkins of sexual assault before and after the shooting, according to eyewitnesses and arresting officers cited in the arrest affidavit. Niarhos is said to believe that Hawkins had sexually assaulted his 16-year-old girlfriend behind a dumpster near the nearby train tracks in July, according to court records cited by the Pottstown Mercury. Authorities said that the alleged rape was initially reported, but that the girl's family had declined to press charges.
Niarhos is reportedly the son of Tom Niarhos, the director of local homeless advocacy nonprofit Beacon of Hope, the Pottstown Mercury reported. Niarhos’s father, who once experienced homelessness himself, previously led an organization that ran a nighttime warming center for unhoused individuals in Pottstown.
A preliminary hearing in the case will be held at 11:30 a.m. on Nov. 30, officials said. Niarhos is currently being held at the Montgomery County Youth Center without the possibility of bail.
