Left: TJ and Krisan Pizzitola (GoFundMe). Right: Drew Meneses, inset, (Maricopa County Jail) and Pattie's First Avenue Bar, background (Google Maps).
Authorities in Arizona arrested five people in connection with a fight outside a Scottsdale bar that led to the death of a man who was set to become a new father in a matter of weeks.
Out of the five, 24-year-old Drew Meneses faces the most serious charge — second-degree murder — in the death of Thomas John "TJ" Pizzitola. Meneses is accused of throwing the sucker punch from behind that ended Pizzitola's life after the suspect's and victim's groups had an altercation.
Also charged are Mark Whitford, 23, Tony Becker, 26, and Julius Husser, 27, who stand accused of aggravated assault, and Krista Molina, also 27, who is facing one count each of assault and disorderly conduct.
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According to a criminal complaint obtained by local Fox affiliate KSAZ, Pizzitola and his friends were at Pattie's First Avenue bar in Old Town Scottsdale when they were kicked out just after 2 a.m. Oct. 11 for being unruly. As Pizzitola and his buddies were outside waiting for their rideshare, one of them reportedly bumped into a woman in Meneses' group, sparking an argument.
Cellphone video captured what happened next.
"What you can see is [Pizzitola] standing with his arms to his side and you can see [Meneses] walk up behind him and essentially what we refer to as sucker punched him in the head. That one punch caused the victim to have brain injury so severe that he went down completely unconscious and never recovered," prosecutor Angela Andrews told a judge, according to local NBC affiliate KPNC.
The suspects fled the scene but cops arrested them last week.
Meneses told the judge he didn't mean for anything bad to happen.
"I just, it was a bad night. It was not supposed to happen like that at all and there was no malicious intent for that at all," he reportedly said.
Pizzitola got married in July 2024 and he and his wife were expecting their first child.
"He wanted to be a dad more than anything. His biggest dream was to be a dad and a husband, and he had one of them," Krisan Pizzitola told KPNC. "TJ never missed an OB-GYN appointment. He went to every single one, no matter how big, how small."
Said his mother Gina Pizzitola: "It makes me angry because it truly was the one thing that he wanted and he was so excited about."
Friends started a GoFundMe account for the victim's wife and baby.
