Police and Blair County prosecutors won't rush to a decision on whether an Allegheny Township homeowner should be charged in the shooting death of an Altoona man, Blair County District Attorney Richard Consiglio said.
"We're going to be slow with this," Consiglio said Thursday.
He added that his office continues to acquire information about the circumstances early Jan. 14 that left Brandon L. Zeth, 24, with five gunshot wounds. Zeth died of complications from those wounds Wednesday at UPMC Pittsburgh.
Timothy Lepore shot Zeth, who was on the back deck of Lepore's Cunningham Lane home, just after midnight, because he was afraid Zeth was a threat, Lepore's attorney, Steven Passarello, maintains. Lepore, Passarello contends, was afraid for his and his wife's lives because Zeth was behaving in a menacing way - pounding on the home's windows while cursing and making threats that he was going to enter the house despite attempts from Lepore to get him to go away.
Zeth's father, Donald Zeth, said previously he believes Lepore overreacted and should be held accountable for shooting an unarmed man who had mistakenly gone to the wrong house.
Consiglio said Zeth's autopsy was scheduled for Thursday, and information from that examination would be included in the assessment of the incident. Hospital reports, including a toxicology report on Zeth from the night of the shooting, have reached his office, Consiglio said.
More people are expected to be interviewed, Consiglio said.
