Anthony Vitelli murder: $5K reward for info on suspected shooter

Norristown police looking for 18-year-old accused of gunning down beloved father

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (CBS) -- Anna Rose Vitelli is still hoping that one day, she can hear her son's voice again.

"I wait every day for my phone to ring," she said.

But last month, her family received a call that tore them up with grief: Anthony Vitelli, 47, was killed October 7 in the parking lot of the Jefferson Court Apartments on Arch Street.

Anna Rose Vitelli was out to eat with her sister when her sister's phone rang.

"It was my brother. He said, 'what's going on?' and she said, 'what are you talking about?'"

Vitelli's brother said: "Well, something is going on. Anthony's name was just on television, saying he got shot." 

"We just took off out of the restaurant," Vitelli said.

The Vitelli family is still mourning Anthony, and seeking justice after his tragic death last month. Police say that surveillance footage from the apartments shows Vitelli's killer firing several shots. The shooter may have been aiming for a crowd on a nearby corner. 

Vitelli was a bystander caught in between.

Police believe the shooter is Damien Wilson, 18. The Montgomery County District Attorney's Office is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.

18-YEAR-OLD DAMIEN WILSON OF NORRISTOWN WANTED FOR FIRST-DEGREE MURDER; $5,000 reward offered for...

Posted by Montgomery County District Attorney's Office on Thursday, November 10, 2022


Vitelli would have turned 48 this month. He leaves behind his wife, son and his 8-year-old daughter Asia.

Family described Vitelli as a devoted father who loved taking his daughter to Disney World and never lost a childlike spark.

"He was like a big kid,"  Anna Rose Vitelli told Eyewitness News. "Peter Pan, we used to call him that. He never grew up."

Anthony's wife and daughter were in Florida at the time of the shooting. They had plans to move there and take many more trips to Disney. 

"He took Asia all the time," sister Andrea Vitelli said. "It was just our place. He loved it. It was like our second home. Our place to go."

But home in Pennsylvania, the Vitelli family hopes the shooter comes forward.

"Anthony's life probably meant nothing to this kid, but it meant everything to his daughter," Andrea Vitelli said. "He doesn't realize. He's 18 years old, but he doesn't realize the lives that he tore up."

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