Jury to get case of student charged in Old City shooting

A Philadelphia jury this morning was to begin deliberating the fate of Gerald Ung, the Temple University Law School student who claimed self-defense last year when he pumped six bullets into a recent Villanova University graduate in Old City.

Ung, 29, is charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault and possession of an instrument of crime for shooting Eddie DiDonato after Ung and two friends got into a sidewalk argument with the victim and three of his friends as bars let out Jan. 17, 2010.

DiDonato, 24, who survived and testified against Ung last week, sat with the same three friends yesterday as the trial attorneys presented divergent, passionate closing arguments.

Defense attorney Jack McMahon glared at DiDonato and his friends, telling the jury that their testimony claiming to have done nothing to provoke the shooting was designed to "sanitize, deceive and mislead."

He blasted them as being "arrogant bullies" who "would not let it go," he said, referring to the petty quarrel which mushroomed into the shooting on Market Street and which was captured on surveillance cameras mounted outside the Fox29 studios.

Ung, who had a permit to carry his pistol, pulled out his weapon only after he was pushed to do so after DiDonato and friends followed Ung's group, and after one of the four men lunged at Ung, McMahon said.

"Mr. Ung was not going to be a punching bag," McMahon said.

Assistant District Attorney Jan McDermott said that "in his law-school mind," Ung mistakenly thought having a gun permit meant he had the right to shoot an unarmed person who had not threatened his life.

She told the jury that Ung had failed to decide to call 9-1-1 before firing or to simply cross Market Street to get away.

Had he called the cops, she said, they could have responded quickly because 15 officers were in the immediate area.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is Old City not the Old West," McDermott said. "You cannot bring a gun out at 2:30 in the morning and shoot people because you're angry or because you're being dissed."

The last witness McMahon called yesterday was Ung, who became emotional at times.

He testified that he first pointed his gun at Tom Kelly, a DiDonato friend, and yelled at him to back off, Ung testified.

Kelly froze. When Ung pointed the weapon at DiDonato and gave him the same order, Ung said, the victim kept walking and demanded: "Who you gonna shoot?"

"I tried to kick him away," Ung said, tearing up during questioning by McMahon.

"Did you shoot him first?" McMahon asked.

"No, I tried to kick him away first," said Ung, who lost his right boot and his balance when DiDonato grabbed his leg.

While falling to the sidewalk, Ung said, he saw sparks fly from his gun. He called 9-1-1 and frantically told the dispatcher that he had been attacked and had shot a man who needed help.

When McMahon asked why he had placed the call, Ung said:

"I didn't want him to die."