Background: The Clarks Summit, Pa. neighborhood where Nicholas Sabo allegedly shot an Instacart driver (Google Maps). Inset: Nicholas Sabo (Lackawanna County Central Processing).
A Pennsylvania man is now in custody after he “didn’t provide any justification” for shooting an Instacart driver who showed up at his home when his wife placed an order for delivery, police said.
Nicholas Sabo, 43, was charged with recklessly endangering another person after he allegedly fired his Glock 19 at a 35-year-old Instacart delivery driver who had shown up at the home on the night of Jan. 18 with his wife and daughter. Sabo’s wife had placed an Instacart order for groceries from Weis Markets but didn’t tell her husband, police said.
According to the criminal complaint obtained by local news outlet The Times-Tribune, the Instacart driver was making the delivery accompanied by his wife and her daughter. The alleged victim was able to provide police paperwork from the delivery order that indicated that they were at the correct address and verified the purchase.
After Sabo’s wife placed her delivery order, she told police that she got a notification from a security app on her phone that was connected to a surveillance camera overlooking a utility trailer and the family vehicles. She told police that she assumed someone was trying to break in to the trailer. Upon receiving this alert, she told her husband about the suspected break-in, but had not mentioned the Instacart order.
Nicholas Sabo then retrieved his gun from another room inside the house and went outside, where he allegedly spotted and fired at the delivery man, who had arrived with the Instacart order.
The victim suffered a gunshot wound to the leg but made it back to his car, where his wife and her daughter were waiting. He fled the scene in the vehicle, and police found him on a nearby street after Sabo’s wife called 911 to report the shooting. The Instacart driver was taken to Geisinger Community Medical Center, where he underwent surgery. WHTM, a local ABC affiliate, reported that the bullet apparently went through one of the alleged victim’s legs and hit the other. He also called 911.
At the Sabo’s residence, police found Sabo’s wife in a reportedly “panicked” state. Nicholas Sabo directed officers to his Glock 19 in the kitchen, where it was confiscated. He reportedly told officers that his wife told him that she believed someone was trying to break into the trailer on their property. South Abington Township Police Chief Paul Wolfe added that Sabo “gave us a brief statement but it was not in writing and it didn’t provide any justification for the shooting.”
The shooting is currently still under investigation.
Sabo was arrested and booked into the Lakawanna County Jail, where he is being held on $25,000 bail. He was charged with recklessly endangering another person, and may face additional charges. He is scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on Jan. 29.
