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Surveillance Video Shows Moments Before Deadly Shooting

CARBONDALE — Newswatch 16 has obtained surveillance video that shows the moments before an off-duty Carbondale police officer shot and killed a man. The n...

CARBONDALE -- Newswatch 16 has obtained surveillance video that shows the moments before an off-duty Carbondale police officer shot and killed a man.

The nine second video was posted on YouTube. Newswatch 16 tracked down the man who provided the video to investigators. Though he says he did not post the nine second portion online, he confirms that it shows the moments before the deadly shooting that happened one week ago.

In the video posted to YouTube you can see two men. On the left is an off-duty Carbondale police officer, on the right is Joseph Molinaro.

34-year-old Molinaro was shot twice and killed last week while heading to a friend's house with his girlfriend.

The surveillance video shows a small part of what happened just before Molinaro's death. The man who provided the complete video to police says the nine second portion is about half way on a two-block trip the officer and Molinaro took.

You can see the officer with a light on his gun, pointed at Molinaro. Molinaro continually backs away and eventually goes out of frame.

"I'd like to see the full thing, if it's a longer video, to see the context, but from that video it is a bit disturbing," said defense attorney Curt Parkins.

Parkins is a defense attorney in Lackawanna County. We showed him the nine seconds of the video that prosecutors have said is a key piece of evidence in the case.

"There's a lot unknown but that distance is certainly not good, nor is the fact that the victim at some point begins to walk away and it looks like he`s being followed," Parkins added.

The officer is Frank Schulze. His attorney said the confrontation started because Schulze heard Molinaro and his girlfriend screaming.

Schulze acknowledges that he and Molinaro traveled about two blocks. Prosecutors now have to decide if that and the eventual shooting are justified.

"This kind of shows you a little bit leading up to it but it doesn't tell you what's going on in his mind, so that's a big piece of the puzzle," Parkins said.

The Lackawanna County District Attorney's Office has said that the investigation is still in the early stages, not much information has been released to the public. We don't know if or when Officer Frank Schulze will be charged.

He is currently on administrative leave from the Carbondale Police Department.

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