Andrew Gaudio, 25, was shot dead, and his 61-year-old elderly mother, Bernadette Gaudio, was left crippled, when two men raided their home in Philadelphia on December 8.
Prosecutors say two defendants who cruelly assassinated a man during a home invasion selected the wrong property after getting an incorrect tip.
Andrew Gaudio, 25, was gunned murdered in his Lower Merion home, in Philadelphia, in the early hours of December 8. His mother, Bernadette Gaudio, 41, was paralyzed as gunfire rang out.
In recent days, police detained Kelvin Roberts, 42, and Charles Fulforth, 41, in connection with the violent event. They were charged with first-degree murder, robbery, burglary, and other offenses, according to the Montgomery County District Attorney’s office.
However, prosecutors claimed the victims were unintentional and that the perpetrators just mistook their intended target.
“The motive in this case was to steal guns, and they simply got the wrong house,” Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele stated at a news conference on Tuesday. “They went into the wrong house with bad intentions and shot an innocent 61-year-old woman as she lay in her bed, and they executed her 25-year-old son.”
Roberts and Fulforth were both employed at The Junkluggers, a rubbish removal company, when they received a tip about a “whole lot of guns” at a property in Bucks County – an address with a similar numbering to the victims’ on 9 Meredith Road.
Steele stated that “someone within the [junk removal] business was feeding them information” when they entered the family home in Lower Merion Township around 2:20 a.m. and opened fire on the mother and son.
The 25-year-old was discovered deceased on the scene. His mother was taken to the hospital for emergency surgery. As she recovered, she provided authorities with a description of the suspects.
On December 10, detectives acquired critical evidence from a source who revealed that Roberts had been criminally linked with his Junkluggers supervisor, who was later identified as Fulforth. A neighbor of Roberts and surveillance footage also identified the couple as being there at the victims’ home at the time of the assault.
Police obtained search warrants for the suspects’ cell phones, which were found near their residence.
Bernadette’s best friend started a GoFundMe campaign in response to the attack, which has raised a total of $265,010. Friends posted about the 61-year-old’s loss of her son: “A mother, who lost her husband 15 years ago [who] is now facing the loss of her youngest son and a life of possible paralysis.”
Both suspects are currently being kept in jail.
