Prosecution: Delco victim ID’d killer before dying

Scott Robins allegedly told police before dying who fired the six shots that struck him as he left his house on an October morning last year to head off to work.

Now his Ridley Township neighbor, who allegedly hid in the pre-dawn light waiting for Robins to emerge from his home to kill him, is on trial in a Delaware County courtroom.

James Dellavecchia,73, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Robins, 42. He also is charhed with shooting and critically wounding Kristen Snow, the victim's now 24-year-old step-daughter.

Prosecutors said a festering neighborhood dispute over constructions noise turned into a deadly confrontation.

Dellavecchia sat quietly by the side of his attorney, Steven O'Meara, for most of the morning occasionally placing a speaker close to his right ear to catch the testimony in the large courtroom.

Prosecutor Joseph McGettigan told a jury in his opening argument that Dellavecchia purchased the gun he used to kill Robins only months before.

Robins' last willful act was to save the life of a co-worker who was waiting in a nearby van to commute to their job at Metropolitan Fire Protection, yelling to him to run, McGettigan said.

Snow emerged from the home to see what was going on and was shot by Dellavecchia. As she lay writhing in the driveway, the defendant "put a gun to her head," McGettigan said.

Snow "looked at him expecting to die," McGettigan said. "But she didn't. the gun was empty. He had fired every shot.

Before dying, Robins told police he had been shot by Dellavecchia, the prosecutor told the jury.

Testimony continues this afternoon before Common Please Judge Michael F.X. Coll.