Police Investigate Fatal Shooting In Grocery Store Parking Lot
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- One man is dead and another is in police custody after a minor vehicle accident and argument led to a shooting Thursday afternoon in the busy parking lot of a grocery store in Washington County.
The Washington County Coroner's Office has identified the victim as 55-year-old Vaughn Simonelli of Washington, Pa. Simonelli, a truck driver and father of five, was pronounced dead at the scene just before 4:30 p.m.
The shooting was reported just before 4 p.m. in the Shop N' Save parking lot in the 100-block of West Beau Street in the City of Washington.
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"It was horrific though, to be in the shopping center with families shopping; and hopefully, a lot of young people didn't see what went down," said Tim Warco, the Washington County Coroner.
Eyewitnesses say Simonelli was driving a small Pontiac Grand Prix, which was hit by a Hummer. Both drivers then got out of their vehicles and reportedly started yelling at each other.
"The two gentlemen were arguing over, the man backed into the other man's car and they started arguing," said Tim Grimes, a witness. "The man approached the man in the Hummer, punched him in the face, the other man pulled out a weapon and shot him twice. He got back into his vehicle and called 911 after he shot him."
"I knew something was going to happen the way the arguing was going down," Grimes added. "My wife was with me; I pushed her to the ground because the man was firing, he was firing this way."
Police have not yet released the identity of the other man, but say he stayed on scene until police arrived.
"Right before four o'clock, we got a report of a shooting outside of the Shop N' Save plaza," said Det. Dan Stanek, of Washington City Police. "As officers were responding, we were advised that the individual who did the shooting was the one who called 911 and he was waiting here for officers. Officers got here; he had been taken into custody."
The shooting suspect, who has not been identified, was taken into custody without incident and driven to the nearby police station for questioning.
He remains in custody. Sources say he is originally from out of state, but most recently he's been living in the Pittsburgh area.
As of Thursday night, no formal charges had been filed in the case.
No other injuries were reported.
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