You’ve probably seen the sirens or caught the chatter on social media about a shooting in Allentown today. Honestly, when news like this breaks in the Lehigh Valley, the rumor mill starts spinning faster than the actual facts can keep up. People hear "shooting" and "hospital" in the same sentence and immediately fear the worst.
But let's dial it back and look at what the Lehigh County District Attorney’s Office is actually reporting. This wasn't a random act of violence or an active shooter situation at a functioning medical facility.
The South Fifth Street shooting in Allentown today explained
It happened at the old Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Hospital at 850 S. Fifth Street. If you’re a local, you know that building has been mostly quiet since they moved their main operations over to Center Valley back in 2023.
Basically, police and EMS were called out to the site after getting reports of a woman in distress. When the first responders arrived and tried to help her, things went south. According to District Attorney Gavin Holihan and Police Chief Charles Roca, the woman allegedly pulled out a knife and threatened the officers.
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One officer fired a single shot.
The woman was hit and immediately given medical care before being rushed to a nearby (and currently operating) hospital. She survived. It’s a messy situation, but officials have been very clear: there is no ongoing threat to the public.
Why the location confused everyone
People were stressed because "Good Shepherd" is a name synonymous with care in this city. But the 850 S. Fifth Street location is no longer an active hospital. The woman involved wasn't a patient or a resident there. She was just... there.
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It’s one of those incidents that highlights how quickly a "welfare check" can turn into a use-of-force investigation.
The legal aftermath and what happens next
While the shooting in Allentown today is the headline, there's a lot of background noise in the local justice system right now. Just yesterday, a major sentence came down for a different shooting—the 2024 Fountain Park case. Grelvis Estevez Cabrera was handed life without parole for the killing of Angel Martinez-Velez.
Why does that matter? Because it shows the DA’s office is under a microscope.
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Whenever an officer fires a weapon in Lehigh County, a specific protocol kicks in. The DA’s office and the Allentown Police Department are running parallel investigations. They’ll look at body cam footage (if available), interview the EMS workers who were on the scene, and determine if the threat with the knife justified the use of a firearm.
- The Status: Under investigation.
- The Injury: Non-fatal.
- The Risk: None to the general neighborhood.
Real talk about safety in the city
Honestly, Allentown gets a bad rap sometimes. If you look at the "CrimeWatch PA" reports for this week, you see a lot of the usual—DUI arrests in Ephrata or retail thefts at the Dollar Tree on Bethlehem Pike. Violent incidents like this one at the old hospital tend to overshadow the fact that, most of the time, the city is just trying to navigate its own growth.
The investigation into the South Fifth Street incident will likely take weeks. We’ll be waiting on the official report to see if any charges are filed against the woman or if the officer’s actions are deemed "justified" under Pennsylvania law.
Actionable steps for residents
If you live near the South Fifth Street area or frequent the Queen City neighborhood, here is what you should actually do:
- Avoid the immediate 800 block of S. Fifth Street if you see yellow tape. Let the detectives do their work without people trying to film TikToks over their shoulders.
- Check the official Lehigh County DA website for press releases. Don’t rely on "I heard from a friend" posts on Facebook.
- Sign up for the Allentown Police Department’s alerts via CrimeWatch. It’s the fastest way to know if a "police-involved shooting" is an active threat or a contained incident.
The situation is contained. The woman is receiving treatment. Now, the city waits for the legal process to grind through the details of those few minutes at the old hospital entrance.