The US Marshals finally found and arrested Damien Wilson, 19, of Norristown, PA, in Philadelphia on Thursday, May 22. Wilson had been hiding and on the run since an arrest warrant for him was issued on November 11 of 2022. Wilson allegedly killed 47-year-old Anthony Vitelli by accident when shooting at another man.
That shooting occurred at around 2 pm on October 7 of 2022. Surveillance video of the shooting showed a tall man wearing pink socks, white gloves, and an otherwise all-black outfit firing a handgun while running. That man was later determined to be Damien Wilson.
Police, when they responded to the scene of the shooting, found Anthony Vitelli suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest. An innocent bystander, Vitelli was hit by Wilson’s poor aim when he fired a volley of 9mm rounds at another man, Christopher Hall. Vitelli died from the gunshot wound.
Investigators of the shooting suspect that Wilson was firing at the other man, Hall, in retaliation for Hall’s friend allegedly shooting Wilson in the leg on July 27 of 2022. That shooting also happened in Norristown, PA. The intended target, Hall, fired one shot back at Wilson, but the investigators think that it was one of the pistol rounds fired by Wilson that hit and killed Vitelli.
The surveillance camera footage of the incident shows the gunman, believed to be Wilson, approaching a group of three men on the corner of a sidewalk. Among them was Christopher Hall, the suspected intended target of Wilson’s shooting. Then, as Vitelli walks near the same spot of the sidewalk, the masked gunman opens fire on the group of three men, missing all of them but hitting Vitelli.
NEW VIDEO: This is the man police say shot & killed 47-year-old Anthony Vitelli on Friday in Norristown.
It happened in the afternoon in broad daylight. Any later, kids would be getting home from school.
Police believe Vitelli was not the intended target. @6abc pic.twitter.com/mb17Qi9GZY
— Bryanna Gallagher (@BGallagherTV) October 11, 2022
Using that footage and more, along with various interviews of those involved, logs of sent and received text messages, and cellphone records, fingered Wilson as being responsible for the shooting, though that has not yet been proven in court, and suspects are treated as innocent until proven guilty.
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This is Anthony Vitelli. He was murdered in October. Police say it was wrong place wrong time. Now @Norristownpd are asking for your help to find the suspect @6abc https://t.co/dZgGKXsMLj pic.twitter.com/4otvhNGKo6
— Jaclyn Lee (@JaclynLeeTV) November 11, 2022
After fingering Wilson as being responsible, law enforcement authorities charged him with a slew of crimes including both first and third-degree murder, person not to possess a firearm, carrying a firearm without a license, possessing an instrument of crime, and reckless endangerment.
Wilson is now awaiting to hear when his preliminary hearing date will be set and cannot post bail because bail is not available for suspects of first degree murder in Montgomery County, PA.
Wilson, in addition to being wanted on charges related to the murder, was wanted for a separate incident in August of 2022 in which he allegedly entered his ex-girlfriend’s apartment and choked her.
Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele praised the US Marshals for their diligence in finding Wilson after his seven months on the lam and connected Wilson’s arrest with efforts to decrease violent crime in the area, saying, “The evidence indicates this was an attempted retaliatory killing that instead killed an innocent man. We are working to interrupt this cycle of violence in Norristown and elsewhere in Montgomery County to make our communities safe from these senseless killings by young men with guns. I also want to commend the U.S. Marshals, who worked diligently to find this murderer and safely get him off the streets.”
Featured image credit: Norristown Police Department