A man has been sentenced to 15 to 30 years in prison over a 2021 shooting that wounded a suburban Philadelphia Borough police chief.
Colin Petrozillo, 26, of Yardley pleaded no contest in Bucks County Court to attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, attempted murder, aggravated assault, and other charges. In a plea of no contest, a defendant does not plead guilty but acknowledges that the prosecution has sufficient evidence for a conviction.
In August 2021, Yardley Police Department Chief Joseph Kelly III was wounded in the arm and ear by a shotgun blast through the front door of a home in the Yardley Commons complex. Kelly, who was assisting the investigating officer on the defendant, said he continues to have limited mobility in his injured arm.
Common Pleas Judge Wallace Bateman Jr. recommended last week that the sentence be commuted to state prison with a mental health or psychiatric hospital, saying it was clear he needed long-term psychiatric treatment. But the judge cited the defendant’s use of drugs and alcohol, possession of firearms not allowed, and his history of failing to comply with medical treatment for his issues.
“In my view, that makes you very dangerous,” Bateman said. “You knew there was someone on the other side of that door.”
Kelly said he was frustrated by Petrozello’s lack of accountability for his actions and criticized the family for blaming the events on his mental illness.
Defense counsel A. Charles Peruto Jr. had sought a sentence with minimal prison time but significant probation, saying his client was “an unlucky kid whose strings got crossed at a young age.”
Petrozillo apologized before sentencing and said he was “a different person”.
“I wish I could understand what happened that day,” he said.