Video of 2010 shooting in Old City dissected

Step by step, second by second, prosecution and defense lawyers Thursday continued dissecting a surveillance video of the shooting of Eddie DiDonato.

Clearly, and with the perspectives of two cameras, the 70-second video of events at 2:30 a.m. Jan. 17, 2010, shows two groups of people, a confrontation, and muzzle flashes as Gerald Ung, 29, then a Temple University third-year law student, shoots and seriously wounds DiDonato, 24.

What the video does not show - rather, what cannot be heard - are the words spoken as mayhem erupts.

Is Ung, as Assistant District Attorney Jan McDermott has argued, an inexplicably enraged man who without provocation shoots another man who gave him too much lip?

Or did Ung, as defense attorney Jack McMahon contends, shoot in self-defense after being taunted and threatened by four "drunken bullies" who followed him and two friends for a block and then rushed him?

That's what a Common Pleas Court jury will be asked to answer when it begins deliberations, likely Monday, according to Judge Glynnis D. Hill.

The incident began after Old City bars closed, disgorging Saturday night crowds onto Third and Market Streets.

"It was pandemonium," testified Thomas Kelly, DiDonato's friend, roommate, and companion that night.

Kelly, DiDonato, and two other friends, Seth Webster and Andrew DiLoreto, met after midnight at Lucy's, a bar on Market between Second Street and Third. All stayed until closing and all drank beers and shots. All said they were sober when they left.

They walked west, Kelly testified, thinking it would be easier to hail a cab there. At Third, there was scaffolding, and DiLoreto, in high spirits, started doing pull-ups.

Unexpectedly, a young woman joined DiLoreto in doing pull-ups. Then came Ung, in a rage about something. He was restrained and urged to leave by the woman and another male friend.

Both groups, Ung and his two friends in the lead, DiDonato and his three friends close behind, began walking toward Fourth Street.

On the video, the two groups walk toward the cameras mounted outside the Fox29 studios at Fourth Street and Market: Ung and friends, then DiDonato and his friends about 10 feet behind. Kelly, recognizable in a white cap worn backward, darts into Market and walks ahead to flank the trio.

Twice Kelly rushes to the sidewalk at Ung. The first time he is pushed away by the woman. The second time, he gets through.

Ung kicks at Kelly, backs up, and holds up a gun. Suddenly, DiDonato moves forward and appears to lunge at Ung.

There is the white burst of a muzzle flash, then a second, and Ung and DiDonato fall to the sidewalk.

The camera view switches to overhead: DiDonato on his back, moving a leg, lips moving as if talking. His shirt is open and his swollen torso is perforated with four or five bullet holes.

Webster comforts him on one side. On the other, Ung's male friend, hands clasping the sides of his head, paces in panic.

"He was saying to apply pressure," Webster testified Thursday, referring to Ung's friend. "Then he freaked out."

Questioning prosecution witnesses Thursday, McDermott focused on the video and witness descriptions.

DiDonato maintained that he approached Ung to "defuse the situation" and denied provoking Ung.

Kelly, who even McDermott conceded made the situation worse by heckling and cursing Ung, testified that he never rushed at or hit Ung.

McMahon has emphasized witness consistency - the fact that DiDonato and his three friends say they do not recall what started the argument or anything anyone said.

Two pedestrians, walking about 10 feet behind DiDonato, testified that they clearly heard an angry argument and Ung yell: "Don't . . . me off!"

"Were you deaf that night?" McMahon asked Webster.

"No," Webster replied. He later tried to explain, "It was a year ago. . . . It all happened so fast."