Wrongful death suit filed against Bongiorni, wife
The mother of an Allegheny County man killed in Burgettstown filed a wrongful death suit against the man charged in the shooting.
An attorney for Kay Wilbert filed the civil complaint Monday against James Bongiorni, 68, of 24 Highland Ave., Burgettstown, in Washington County Court.
Brian Wilbert, Kay Wilbert’s son, was shot April 27 outside the home of Bongiorni’s daughter, Darlo Bongiorni, at 5 Hillcrest Ave.
The complaint, which also names Bongiorni’s wife, Sandy Bongiorni, as a defendant, asks for damages in excess of $50,000.
The complaint claims the Bongiornis, “prior to acting in concert to inflict deadly injury to Brian Wilbert … agreed with each other in advance of the shooting” to “willfully utilize the weapon.”
James Bongiorni, a former Burgettstown police officer and constable, faces a count of criminal homicide in the shooting. He is being held in Washington County jail without bond. Sandy Bongiorni was not charged.
Brian Wilbert was the father of Darlo Bongiorni’s child.
Wilbert was reported to have gone with a friend to see Darlo Bongiorni. Pittsburgh attorney Robert Del Greco Jr., who represents Bongiorni, said there was a long exchange of calls, texts and calls to the 911 center before Wilbert showed up at the house just after 9 p.m. with a knife.
According to court documents, McDonald police responded to the shooting and found Wilbert unconscious, with a gunshot wound in his abdomen. Wilbert was flown to Allegheny General Hospital, Pittsburgh, where he died early the next morning.
Police said a handgun registered to James Bongiorni was recovered at the scene.
Del Greco said the shooting was an act of self-defense. In court documents, Del Greco wrote James Bongiorni was “presented with a man almost half his age, with a violent criminal past, who had communicated threats of murder to his daughter, possessed a knife and was highly intoxicated.”
Authorities found a knife in a sheath in the car Wilbert arrived in, as well as a bottle of vodka.
Assistant District Attorney Jason Walsh argued that a video of the incident taken by a neighbor shows Bongiorni shooting “a man with his hands to his sides.”
In the civil complaint filed by attorney Richard C. Thiele of Greensburg, Kay Wilbert, who said she lived with her son in Imperial at the time of his death and is the administrator of his estate, seeks damages for medical, funeral and estate expenses. She also is seeking damages for the financial support and benefits she would have received from her son, who was 38 at the time of his death, and for her son’s pain and suffering before he died.
Attorney Albert P. Veverka, who represents James Bongiorni with Del Greco, said the defense team was not aware the civil suit was filed.
“It’s not surprising to me, but it’s certainly disappointing,” he said.
Veverka maintains James Bongiorni was justified in his actions that night.
A common pleas judge is currently reviewing a petition from the defense for bond.
Messages left for Thiele were not immediately returned.