TAYLOR - A Virginia man hired a driver to ferry him nearly 300 miles to Taylor, where he killed his ex-girlfriend's fiance' on Thursday, and then turned the murder weapon on himself after a police pursuit on Interstate 80, Lackawanna County First Assistant District Attorney Gene Talerico and Taylor borough Sgt. William Roche said.
Angelo Rizzuto of Culpeper, Va., fatally shot David Jones, 53, in the head once with a .357 Magnum revolver inside Mr. Jones' apartment on the second floor at 715 W. Grove St. in the presence of his ex-girlfriend and a 2-year-old boy, Mr. Talerico and Sgt. Roche said.
Borough police discovered Mr. Jones' grisly remains shortly after his fiancée called 911 to report the fatal shooting at 5:29 p.m., Mr. Talerico said.
Mr. Jones died as a result of the gunshot wound, Lackawanna County Coroner Tim Rowland said.
After firing the shot, Mr. Rizzuto got back into the Lincoln Town Car and ordered the driver, who authorities say was not aware or complicit in the crime, to get out of town and take him to Manhattan, Mr. Talerico said.
"He himself was being held captive and following the wishes of Mr. Rizzuto," he said.
Police escorted the driver, who was associated with a limousine service in Virginia and whose name was not released, into the back of borough police headquarters off Union Street at about 10 p.m. The driver apparently became aware that Mr. Rizzuto was carrying a gun and that something had happened inside the apartment after the shooting, when Mr. Rizzuto got back into the vehicle, Mr. Talerico said.
Police learned that Mr. Rizzuto, 47, was traveling in the Town Car and issued a lookout to several police agencies.
State police spotted the vehicle on Interstate 80 in Monroe County near the New Jersey border and forced it to pull over, Mr. Talerico said.
Mr. Rizzuto then fatally shot himself with the same .357 Magnum revolver used to kill Mr. Jones, Mr. Talerico said.
Mr. Talerico declined to be specific about the motives surrounding the alleged crime, but alluded to the fact that there were relationships among the victim, the dead shooter and the woman in the home.
Her name and the boy's identity were not released.
What ties Mr. Rizzuto may have had to Taylor or Northeast Pennsylvania were not known late Thursday.
"Some of these questions are yet to be discovered," Mr. Talerico said.
After police cordoned off a large area around West Grove Street with yellow police tape, neighbors began trickling out of their homes to see what was going on. State police were called in to collect evidence and photograph the crime scene. Mr. Jones' body had not been removed from the apartment as of 7:15 p.m.
Francis DeAngelo, who lives near Mr. Jones' apartment on West Taylor Street, said he was reading a newspaper on his porch when he saw a black Lincoln Town Car with an out-of-state plate parked near the apartment.
Because he did not recognize the car, he said, he was somewhat suspicious and kept an eye on it, and soon saw a man get inside it.
"I've been here for 37 years," Mr. DeAngelo, 61, said. "I know it was nobody from the neighborhood."
Mr. DeAngelo said the car went slowly up the block, pulled up to a stop sign, and turned out of the neighborhood. Mr. DeAngelo notified authorities.
Romaine Zielenski, who lives across the street from the couple's apartment, said she heard a "bang" and then moments later saw a swarm of police vehicles surround it.
"All I heard was a … bang," Ms. Zielenski, 73, said. "Then they started to tape off the area."
Ms. Zielenski said she believed the couple lived there two months. She did not know them.
"I always saw them out in the yard playing," said Larry Saldi, 50, a neighbor. "I'm kind of shocked. It's crazy."
Contact the writer: smcconnell@timesshamrock.com
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