WOODBURY HEIGHTS — A man accused of shooting a borough resident Monday night was arrested Thursday in Philadelphia.
The shooting was prompted because the victim was dating the suspect's estranged wife, police said.
Masonry contractor Joseph Stavoli, 52, was shot in the hand and leg outside his Park Avenue home at about 9 p.m., said police. He was treated at a local hospital and released.
Chief George Lindsay said Ptl. Nicholas DiBiasio spotted the suspected shooter getting into a car, but the man refused to stop.
The getaway was caught on a police dashboard camera.
“It was obvious he was not going to stop. My officers had him boxed in,” Lindsay said.
“He tried to ram Investigator Gary Krohn head-on at a high rate of speed, and then Ptl. Jason Neely,” said Lindsay.
Evasive action by the officers to avoid a crash and possible shoot out in a residential neighborhood was the correct decision, the chief said.
DiBiasio and Ptl. Josh Moline pursued the man north through Woodbury to Interstate 295, then onto 676, where the suspect lost control of the car he was driving and crashed, said police.
The driver managed to escape, but information gathered at the shooting scene and evidence left in the car — which was stolen —led detectives to identify him as Joseph Evola, 42, of Lumberton and Philadelphia, said police.
With the assistance of the U.S. Marshal’s Service New York/New Jersey Fugitive Task Force and the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office, Evola was located at 2:15 p.m. Thursday at Vola’s Pizza Restaurant on Grant Avenue in Philadelphia. He was arrested without incident and faces charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a weapon for unlawful purposes, unlawful possession of a weapon, eluding and receiving stolen property.
Lindsay said the shooting was not random and that the victim was specifically targeted because he’d been dating Evola’s estranged wife.
Evola is being held in Philadelphia, awaiting extradition to New Jersey. Bail has been set at $75,000.
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