A Reading man was sentenced to state prison Monday for his role in a 2023 ambush killing.
Jason Nival, 28, was found guilty by a jury in February in the shooting death of 47-year-old Eric Ferrer in January 2023. Ferrer was fatally shot while driving his vehicle near his apartment in the 300 block of Washington Street.
Nival was convicted on charges of third-degree murder, conspiracy to commit third-degree murder, aggravated assault, conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, possessing an instrument of crime and recklessly endangering another person.
He was sentenced by Berks County Judge Thomas Parisi to 16 years and seven months to 42 years in state prison. He was given credit for 677 days already served.
Following his incarceration, Nival will be on probation for eight years.
Nival’s brothers, Julio Nival, 21, of Reading, and Angelo Delgado, 19, of Bronx, N.Y., each avoided trials by pleading guilty on Feb. 4 to voluntary manslaughter.
They were each sentenced by Parisi in April. Julio Nival was sentenced to five to 20 years in state prison. Delgado was sentenced to 4 1/2 to 20 years in state prison.
According to court documents:
The brothers waited for Ferrer outside of his apartment at Washington Towers and opened fire on his vehicle as Ferrer pulled into a parking garage.
Just before 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 18, Ferrer was returning to his apartment with a passenger inside his car. The passenger told police that three males, two of whom were wearing masks, walked in front of Ferrer’s car and Ferrer stopped to let them walk past.
Just before turning into the parking garage of the apartment building, Ferrer and his passenger looked back toward the three males as they started shooting at the car.
Video footage from a nearby security camera shows the car suddenly turning into the garage and the three suspects scattering.
Footage from the apartment building showed the three suspects leaving a residence on the opposite side of the street just before the shooting.
Police responded and found the bullet-riddled car in the garage, with Ferrer mortally wounded in the back seat. He was taken to Reading Hospital where he later died.
Officers recovered a total of 10 shell casings from three different firearms. Five bullets struck the victim’s car.
The suspects were identified in part through security footage.
Jason Nival and Delgado were arrested about a month after the shooting when their vehicle was stopped by police for an unspecified reason in the 600 block of Maple Street.
Julio Nival was arrested in September 2023 during a traffic stop by deputy sheriffs in Guadalupe County, Texas, on a warrant from Reading police. He was extradited to Berks later that month.
Source: Berkshire mont