HARRISBURG, Pa. – A Harrisburg man, Jean Rigard, will spend 4 to 10 years in state prison after he plead guilty to shooting a man whom he thought cut in the take out line at a pizza shop last year.
The incident happen on February 9, 2014, at around 2:20 a.m. at Mercado’s Pizza at 1701 Derry Street. When Harrisburg police officers arrived on the scene, they found an individual laying in a snow bank with a gunshot wound to his hip.
According to police the victim was in line to order take-out when he was jumped by several males because they believed the victim had cut in front of them in line. At some point during the fight, Rigard, even though he was not actually involved in the struggle, pulled out a firearm and fired two shots at unknown individuals. This was revealed learned after police reviewed surveillance video from Mercado’s Pizza.
Then, as the victim was being assaulted by multiple people, Rigard was observed walking up to the victim and shooting him in the hip. The victim was unable to identify who shot him. However, an individual who was previously arrested with Rigard during an unrelated drug investigation was able to positively identify Rigard as the shooter in the surveillance video.
Additionally, when investigators went to speak with Rigard regarding the shooting, they observed he had on the same pair of shoes that he was wearing during the incident on February 9.
Rigard was ultimately arrested and charged with Aggravated Assault, Persons Not to Possess a Firearm, and Carrying a Firearm without a License.
However, at the preliminary hearing, the victim failed to appear. Additionally, investigators attempted multiple times to contact the victim, but never heard back from him.
As a result, the District Attorney agreed to amend the Aggravated Assault charge to a Simple Assault and Rigard agreed to plead guilty to the firearms and simple assault charges. Concerning the Persons Not to Possess charge, Rigard was prohibited from carrying a firearm for a 2009 conviction in New York for felony assault with a deadly weapon.
