U.D. cops bust suspect in shooting at beer store
UPPER DARBY » A 24-yearold man has been arrested in the shooting of a beer store owner who confronted him about stealing beer from the establishment, authorities announced Monday afternoon.
Pablo Quintanilla, an undocumented immigrant from Honduras, was taken into custody by Upper Darby Police Monday morning and is charged with criminal attempted murder, aggravated assault, simple assault and firearm offenses in connection with the scuffle and shooting of the owner of the Aaron Beer Distributor on the 700 block of Garrett Road Saturday night.
The 57-year-old victim was allegedly shot at four times, with bullets hitting him in the arm and chest. A third bullet is lodged in his neck. He is reportedly in stable condition at Lankenau Medical Center.
According to Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood, Quintanilla was in the store earlier Saturday afternoon and stole three beers from the store. When he returned that night after 9 p.m., the owner confronted Quintanilla.
In video released by police, the owner and Quantanilla are seen talking by the front counter, the latter being shown on camera indicating he had stolen beer earlier. It is not known what exactly was said between the two as the video was silent. The owner is seen taking a legally owned .38-caliber revolver out of his waistband and hits the suspect over the head. Quintanilla takes a swing at the owner, who then ducks to avoid being hit. The two men then scuffle.
At this point, the gun is thrust from the owner’s hand and tossed on the floor outside of the camera’s view and both scramble to get it. When Quintanilla comes back into frame he is seen shooting at the victim who is still off-screen. Quintanilla then leaves the store with the gun. The gun has not yet been recovered and is part of the department’s continuing investigation.
A second man who was also in the store at the time of the shooting and previously reported to be involved with Quintanilla has been dropped from further police investigation.
“He just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Chitwood said of the other man.
Chitwood said the police received leads from the public after news reports were released, and that led police to the arrest of Quintanilla around 11 a.m. Monday in the 100 block of Copley Road. Upon Quintanilla’s arrest a car arrived at the scene to pick him up and drive him up to New York City, where he may have been living (he was seen on camera in Aaron’s wearing a New York Yankees baseball cap).
“We probably never would have saw him again,” said Chitwood if police did not arrest Quintanilla when they did.
The arrest of Quintanilla is just another story of Chitwood’s saying of all roads lead to Upper Darby.
Quintanilla was previously arrested in Laredo, Texas, by border patrol in February 2015 and was deported the next month.
“Obviously, he’s back in the country,” said Chitwood. Federal authorities have been made aware of this case.
The tragedy of it all in Chitwood’s view is that a hardworking business owner had to deal with a “thug that came here illegally.” The business owner was shot with the potential of being killed.
“The victim is lucky to be alive,” he said. “It’s not like (Quintanilla) accidentally shot him, he pointblank picked up the gun and shot him.”
Chitwood said for a lower-level crime of stealing some beer a store employee, or any business owner who sees a similar act occurring, should call 911.
“Over a bottle of beer or several bottles of beer you lose your life?” he said about the altercation. “It’s not worth it.”
Online court records could not be retrieved Monday afternoon to check for preliminary arraignment and bail information for Quintanilla.