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A Pennsylvania man is facing multiple charges after police say he shot a teen whom he believed was getting his daughter hooked on drugs.

Following the tragic incident last Friday, Michael J. D’Biagio was arrested by New Castle City Police Department officers, according to a post on their Facebook.

The Beaver Falls resident, 41, has since admitted to using his firearm to fatally shoot the 17-year-old victim, who was identified as Darren Scott Jevcak, outside of the place where he worked, officials said.

On July 19, NCCPD authorities confirmed in the Facebook post that they were called to the scene in a parking lot of a New Castle business earlier that day.

“Upon arrival, officers viewed the male victim lying in the parking lot,” the post reads. “The victim was transported to UPMC Jameson Hospital where he was pronounced deceased.

“The victim, in this case, has been identified as 17-year-old Darren Scott Jevcak from Lawrence County,” an NCCPD officer added.

Police also said D’Biagio was still on the scene with his firearm at the time of their arrival and took him into custody.

“D’Biagio was arrested and did admit to getting his firearm and driving up to New Castle from Beaver Falls and shooting the victim when the victim walked out of his place of employment,” authorities wrote.

According to a criminal complaint obtained by the New Castle News, D’Biagio admitted to police that he shot Jevcak “five or six times” outside of Scustie’s Pizza Shop, where the teen had worked.

Authorities said while they were questioning D’Biagio, he told them about the week leading up to the incident, where he allegedly discovered his daughter had a relationship with Jevcak and was sneaking out of the house to use drugs.

D’Biagio told officials that his daughter was allegedly buying and smoking marijuana, as well as using cocaine, with Jevcak, according to the criminal complaint.

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He eventually confronted his daughter but later took matters into his own hands when his daughter and wife were at a mall, police allege. While they were gone, D’Biagio told cops he contacted Jevcak and asked his whereabouts, before getting in the car with a gun and driving to New Castle, the complaint states.

When he arrived, D’Biagio said he saw Jevcak exit from a back door, which is when he fatally shot the teen multiple times around 5:25 p.m., according to the complaint.

“He realized he had shot Jevcak in the arm and Jevcak went down to the ground,” the criminal complaint said, according to the New Castle News. “D’Biagio said he shot Jevcak [again] so that he could put [him] out of his misery because [he] looked to be in shock.”

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Jevcak, who police said was on the ground, unconscious, not moving and bleeding, was treated at the scene by McGonigle Ambulance Services. He was then rushed to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, the local outlet reports.

In the complaint, a neighbor who witnessed the attack also told authorities D’Biagio shot the boy twice but went back to his car and appeared to be reloading the magazine to his gun when the business owner and another employee came outside.

The neighbor went on to say in the complaint how D’Biagio was confronted by the business owner and put his gun down on the sidewalk while keeping his hands in the air for two to three minutes.

He allegedly later returned to his car with his gun, where he appeared to make a phone call, which is when police arrived and D’Biagio complied with their orders by laying on the ground, according to the New Castle News.

D’Biagio was arraigned Saturday morning, the New Castle News reports. Police said in their Facebook post that he is now being charged with criminal homicide and aggravated assault.

On Tuesday, New Castle Police Chief Robert Salem told the New York Daily News that D’Biagio “had a gun permit, had a clean record,” and no known mental health problems.

Salem also added that there was “no justification… for coming up here and shooting [anyone],” and claimed that D’Biagio “overreacted.”

He has not yet entered a plea. An attorney for D’Biagio could not immediately be located by PEOPLE.


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