CATAWISSA - Columbia County District Attorney Gary Norton has ruled Sunday morning's shooting of Roger DeGhetto, 38, of 310 N. Third St., Catawissa, justifiable homicide after reviewing information from a state police investigation.
DeGhetto was shot in the head by Catawissa Police Officer Joshua Laidacker when he allegedly reared back to stab his mother, Judy DeGhetto, with a 13-inch kitchen knife during a domestic dispute at 310 N. Third St. that also involved DeGhetto's wife, Andrea.
State police at Bloomsburg, who conducted the shooting investigation, said police were attempting to talk down Roger DeGhetto for several minutes prior to the shooting.
According to Norton, Roger DeGhetto told police, "You're going to have to kill me, because I'm going to kill her (Judy DeGhetto)."
Police said Laidacker fired a single shot from his SIG Sauer 9mm.
The district attorney said Laidacker had no other option but to use lethal force against DeGhetto because he was using his mother as a shield.
Prior to threatening to stab his mother late Sunday morning, state police said DeGhetto pulled his wife by the hair and threatened her with the knife, which prompted her to tell her son to call 9-1-1. The son and two daughters fled the scene prior to the shooting and police arrival.
Judy DeGhetto suffered a hand wound from being cut with the knife held by her son as she attempted to pull his arm away from her neck and shoulders.
No other injuries were reported.
Investigators reported it was unclear what prompted the domestic dispute inside the home.
After undergoing counseling, Laidacker returned to work earlier this week, according to Catawissa Police Chief Anthony Kopitsky.
The Press Enterprise in Bloomsburg reported DeGhetto was still on probation from a simple assault case last year. He was charged with grabbing his wife by the neck, threatening to kill her and torch their home.
The newspaper also said DeGhetto was cited for flashing a knife and threatening a Sunbury man at the Columbia Mall in 1995. At the time, DeGhetto lived on Perry Avenue just outside Bloomsburg.
A year later, he allegedly choked his grandmother, Abbie E. Adams, then 82, and hit and choked his aunt, Edith M. Shoffler.