Upper Darby neighbor charged with attempted murder over driveway incident
A 37-year-old Upper Darby man was charged with attempted murder after police said he fired a gun at his neighbor who was shoveling snow on Monday morning.
The shooting may have arisen from a conflict over a car parked in a shared driveway.
David J. Wise, of the 6600 block of Church Lane, is also charged with two counts of aggravated assault, possession of an instrument of crime, and recklessly endangering another person, according to Upper Darby Police.
The victim’s wife called police at 10:55 a.m. to say a white male with a gun shot at her husband and fled into his house. Officers arrived and “established a perimeter around the residence,” according to an affidavit of probable cause written by Det. Mazen Makak.
The victim, a 28-year-old man, told Lt. Robert Bennett that his nextdoor neighbor got out of a black Dodge Charger and fired a shot at him.
Police called Wise and used loud speakers to try to contact him without any luck. They did, however, find a gold .380 caliber fired cartridge on the ground outside the victim’s house.
Malak checked surveillance video and saw the victim shoveling snow in his driveway when the white male got out of the Charger and fired his gun. The victim turned and ran.
The assailant then got into his car and drove away, police said.
Malak viewed Wise’s driver’s license photo and found that he “shared similar physical traits and characteristics with the subject observed in the surveillance footage,” the probable cause stated. Wise is also the registered owner of a black Dodge Charger.
Around 12:15 p.m., Malak called Wise on the phone.
During their conversation, Wise seemed to be upset and allegedly said he wanted to apologize to his neighbor, the probable cause statement said.
After talking with Malak for about an hour, Wise left his house and was taken into custody with incident, police said. Malak recognized him from the surveillance video.
Detectives also took a statement from the victim, who said he was out shoveling snow when his neighbor drove up in the black Charger. The driver asked the victim if a Range Rover parked in the driveway belonged to him. The victim said it did. The driver told him it was in his driveway and asked him to move it, police said. But the victim argued that the Range Rover was in his own driveway.
At that, the driver got out, pulled out the black handgun and fired one round at him, the victim told police.
The victim then identified Wise as the person who shot him from a photo array, police said.
District Court Judge Mary Hopper set bail at 10 percent of $500,000, which Wise was not able to immediately post and he was taken to the Delaware County jail.
Court documents did not list a lawyer for Wise at this time.
His next court date is March 2 before Magisterial District Court Judge Harry J. Karapalides.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using public court records.
