Teen charged with Columbia shooting over missing phone sentenced up to 5 years in state prison

Caelan Natrell Brown [Columbia Borough Police Department]

JACK PANYARD | LNP Staff Writer

One of three people charged in a 2024 Columbia shooting over a missing cellphone pleaded guilty Monday and was sentenced to up to five years in state prison.

Caelan Natrell Brown, 19, of Columbia, entered a plea deal before Lancaster County Judge David Ashworth for his role in the Nov. 1, 2024 incident where he and two other people were accused of shooting into an occupied house.

Eleven charges were dropped as part of the plea deal including aggravated assault and reckless endangerment. Brown pleaded guilty to charges of criminal conspiracy, possession of a firearm with an altered manufacturer number, receiving stolen property, possession of a firearm without a license and possession of a firearm.

Ashworth sentenced Brown to two to five years in state prison.

Police said Brown, J'vian Mendez-Gonzalez, 19, of Lancaster, and Isaiah Diaz, 21, of Columbia, all shot at the house on the 400 block of Avenue K after tracking two men to the home following a fight at a smoke shop. During the fight Brown dropped his cellphone, which Brown, Mendez-Gonzalez and Diaz believed was taken by one of the men.

Brown, Mendez-Gonzalez and Diaz surrendered to police and were charged. Brown explained their motive and Diaz told police he supplied the guns, saying Mendez-Gonzalez fired three shots at the building before they went back to his apartment and hid the guns in the ceiling, according to charging documents.

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