HARRISBURG, Pa. — Dauphin County District Attorney Fran Chardo announced Tuesday that no criminal charges will be filed against the man who shot and killed 52-year-old Paul Kattouf in an apparent road-rage incident on State Street between Second and Third Streets near Harrisburg's State Capitol Complex last month.
In a statement issued Tuesday, Chardo said the incident was a tragic misapprehension of the circumstances by both Kattouf and the individual who used deadly force on him.
"But the passenger’s misapprehension was reasonable," Chardo said. "He had to decide on the use of force to protect his family in seconds or less. Under Pennsylvania law, his actions cannot carry criminal liability. We extend our condolences to the Kattouf family."
According to Chardo, the man who shot Kattouf on June 23 was a passenger in a vehicle driven by his girlfriend, who was in her third trimester of pregnancy. The driver's 7-year-old child was also riding in the vehicle's back seat, Chardo said.
Chardo made his determination after reviewing the comprehensive investigation of the incident conducted by the Harrisburg Bureau of Police.
According to Chardo, the investigation determined:
- The family was traveling by car to drop the adult male passenger at work on the West Shore. The family first observed Kattouf’s car at Front and Reily’s Streets.
- Kattouf yelled at the family car over a traffic matter.
- The family drove south on Front Street intending to take the I-83 John Harris Memorial Bridge (the South Bridge). A detour at Forster Street required the family to divert to North 3rd Street until turning west on State Street to return to Front Street.
- Kattouf took the same detour and traveled ahead of the family.
- As the family traveled down 3rd Street, the female driver called a recorded line of the Dauphin County Emergency Management Agency (the 911 center). She indicated that she was reporting a road rage incident.
- Kattouf pulled into a parking spot in the 200 block of State Street in front of the Cathedral of Saint Patrick.
- While on the telephone with EMA, the family stopped behind Kattouf’s car and began to relate the license plate number to the dispatcher.
- Kattouf likely surmised that the vehicle containing the family was following him. He would not have known that they were just returning to Front Street to take the South Bridge.
- Kattouf exited his vehicle and approached the family’s vehicle. All the windows in the family car were open. At the passenger side window, Kattouf deployed pepper spray into the car. The pepper spray hit the pregnant female driver, the male passenger, and the child in the back seat.
- As she was being sprayed, the driver grabbed her pistol. Because of the pepper spray, she was unable to fire it. The male passenger took it from her hand and fired a single shot at Paul Kattouf, striking him in the right upper chest.
- The bullet passed through the heart and the right lung resulting in Kattouf’s death.
"Both the driver and passenger of the family car had a license to carry a concealed firearm issued by the sheriff," Chardo said. "Their possession of the firearm used was lawful."
The individual's actions were justified "under the Pennsylvania statutes relating to the use of deadly force in self-protection and the protection of others," Chardo said. "The individual who used deadly force had to decide in a matter of seconds."
