Apr 28, 2016 2 min read

McDonald police are investigating a fatal shooting Wednesday night outside a Burgettstown home, but no arrests have been made in what the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled a homicide.

Brian James Wilbert, 38, of Imperial, died at 12:31 a.m. Thursday at Allegheny General Hospital, according to a representative of the medical examiner’s office. An autopsy determined he died of a gunshot wound to the torso. McDonald police Chief Mark Dorsey confirmed James Bongiorni, 68, of Burgettstown, fired the fatal shot.

The shooting occurred about 9:09 p.m. in front of 5 Hillcrest Ave., Dorsey said. One shot was fired. Wilbert was reported to have gone to the address with a friend to see his ex-girlfriend, Darlo Bongiorni.

James Bongiorni didn’t live at 5 Hillcrest, Dorsey said, but Dorsey confirmed he was at the home.

In 2008, Darlo Bongiorni filed a petition for a protection from abuse order against Wilbert in Washington County Court, accusing him of threatening and physically abusing her and of vandalism at the family’s car lot.

A final PFA against Wilbert was granted. She petitioned the court in 2011 to withdraw the order.

In 2012, she asked the court to award her sole custody of their child, citing Wilbert’s criminal record and describing him as violent.

“We are still piecing together exactly what happened,” Dorsey said Thursday. “We still have a few more witnesses to interview to address why he (Wilbert) was at the house.”

“We have conferred with District Attorney Gene Vittone on the case,” he added.

A knife and a small-caliber gun were found at the scene by police.

Police took photos Wednesday night of the car Wilbert arrived at the home in, and planned to impound it.

Wilbert was scheduled for a preliminary hearing Thursday morning in Crafton before District Judge Dennis Robert Joyce on charges of possession of a controlled substance, driving with a suspended license and driving without headlights on charges filed by Carnegie police stemming from a Feb. 3 traffic stop. He also was scheduled to be formally arraigned next week in Allegheny County Court on drug charges filed earlier this year by Scott Township police, also a result of a traffic stop.

Police departments from Mt. Pleasant and Hanover Townships assisted at the shooting scene, as did a state police forensics services unit.