Ex- Temple student acquitted in Old City shooting

A former Temple University Law School student was acquitted of all charges today in the shooting of a man in Old City.

Gerald Ung had been charged with attempted murder for firing Eddie DiDonato on Jan. 17, 2010 following a street altercation.

The jury of six men and six women began their review shortly before noon after receiving instructions in the law from Judge Glynnis Hill on the charges which included aggravated assault and a weapons count.

Ung, 29, a Virginia native in Philadelphia to attend law school, testified that he fired at and critically wounded DiDonato, 24, in self-defense. Ung testified that DiDonato and three friends trailed him and his two friends for a block, swearing at and menacing them, following a 2:30 a.m. argument Third and Market Streets.

At Fourth and Market Streets, outside the studios of Fox29, a surveillance camera showed a 70-second chain of events in which one of DiDonato's friends twice rushes at Ung and his friends.

In the final rush at the Fourth Street intersection, DiDonato also approaches and grabs at Ung, who draws a pistol and fires. Ung had a permit to carry the gun and testified that he shot in self-defense.

DiDonato, who was shot six times and left with a partial paralysis of his lower extremities, insisted that he never attacked Ung and described the incident as the result of a "stupid" argument that got out of hand.

DiDonato and his three friends testified that Ung, whom they did not know, inexplicably confronted them in a rage as they were trying to hail a cab after a night of clubbing in Old City.

Both parties then continuing trash-talking and heckling each other as they walked on Market from Third to Fourth where the incident ended with the shooting.