ERIE, PA – The Democratic Erie City Council president could find himself at the center of a criminal investigation after an unsettling confession made earlier in July where the council president claimed to have shot a classmate in his youth while under the influence of drugs.
During the July 16th Erie City Council meeting, President Mel Witherspoon shared a chilling confession when explaining his absence at a funeral for an Erie local who’d been fatally shot by a parole officer at the beginning of July.
On the evening of July 2nd, 43-year-old Marchello Woodard was fatally shot by who officials only identified as a “state parole agent,” with seemingly no additional details on the circumstances of the shooting being shared beyond that.
The ambiguous nature of the fatal shooting has sparked warranted public interest, and outcry, with locals demanding answers on what exactly happened on the evening of the shooting.
While the Erie County District Attorney has confirmed an investigation into the shooting is ongoing but is withholding details so as to not compromise the matter, the topic was brought up during the July 16th city council meeting and resulted in an unexpected confession by President Witherspoon.
Explaining his absence at Woodard’s funeral and respective rally honoring the deceased local, Witherspoon claimed that the overall circumstances resurfaced memories from his youth about a friend who’d been “shot with a double-barrel shotgun at close range” when the city council president was only 17 years old.
Witherspoon recalled being part of “the largest gang in Newark, New Jersey” at the time of his friend’s murder, openly stating before the meeting how he’d organized alongside his fellow gang members to go “looking for the person.”
However, Witherspoon claimed that when he and the other gang members found his friend’s killer, they were greeted by what he described as bonafide “mafia” members.
“Well, when we got there, we didn't realize it was a family,” Witherspoon stated, emphasizing, “And when you talk Jersey City, and you talk family, you're talking the mafia.”
Following the unexpected run in with the mafia in New Jersey, Witherspoon said he had left the city, finding his way to Nebraska where he continued his education and wound up playing sports.
The city council president admitted that he’d bought a gun once he found himself in Nebraska and dovetailed into a shooting which he admitted responsibility to.
“I played football and basketball. And the tackle, good guy, nice guy. And the guys came to my room, and we got high,” Witherspoon said, adding that he had his firearm on him all the while. Witherspoon then claimed a peer of his, who he only identified as “Nick”, came into his room and a bizarre exchange led to an unfathomable outcome.
“Nick came in my room,” the city council president claimed, adding, “I said, 'You know, Nick, I could blow your head off.' He said, 'Go ahead.' And I did…I shot him in the head point-blank.”
A shooting of this caliber would leave most people wondering why someone wouldn’t have spent a significant amount of time behind bars for such an act, let alone a conviction that could end a political career before it starts, to which Witherspoon afforded an explanation during the city council meeting.
“I went back to basketball. How did that happen? Because I had a family member, one of my uncles, he was involved with one of the families,” Witherspoon said, with the implication being the family tie was mafioso, adding, “That family made a call from Newark, to New York, to Omaha…where I was at, and I was out the next day. So that's having the right contact at the right time.”
The unexpected revelation shared by Witherspoon garnered significant local attention, with CBS affiliate WTAJ locating a newspaper from 1962 reporting on the very shooting the council president detailed.
However, there were some significant differences contained in the August 1962 reporting of the incident and the manner in which Witherspoon detailed the shooting.
In Witherspoon’s version of events shared during the July meeting, he framed the incident as an intentional shooting, but the original news report from the Scottsbluff Star-Herald explicitly described the shooting as an accident.
“Sheriff Steve Warrick, before midnight, obtained a witnessed statement from Deligianis saying there was no trouble between the youths,” the August 29th, 1962, article reads, further adding, “and they had simply been 'playing with the guns' when the one discharged.”
Furthermore, the teen shot during the incident survived completely and didn’t suffer a gunshot wound to the head in the traditionally understood sense, i.e. suffering a gunshot to the forehead or temple.
According to the 1962 report, “The bullet entered the face at the left cheekbone, crossed behind the nose passage, and lodged behind the right cheekbone. It was thought that it did not strike any area of the brain, and the youth was able to talk to both doctors and investigating officers.”
Erie City Council President Witherspoon has since not commented on his recent statements during the July meeting, or the details outlined in the original news report from August of 1962.
During the July 16th Erie City Council meeting, President Mel Witherspoon shared a chilling confession when explaining his absence at a funeral for an Erie local who’d been fatally shot by a parole officer at the beginning of July.
On the evening of July 2nd, 43-year-old Marchello Woodard was fatally shot by who officials only identified as a “state parole agent,” with seemingly no additional details on the circumstances of the shooting being shared beyond that.
The ambiguous nature of the fatal shooting has sparked warranted public interest, and outcry, with locals demanding answers on what exactly happened on the evening of the shooting.
While the Erie County District Attorney has confirmed an investigation into the shooting is ongoing but is withholding details so as to not compromise the matter, the topic was brought up during the July 16th city council meeting and resulted in an unexpected confession by President Witherspoon.
Explaining his absence at Woodard’s funeral and respective rally honoring the deceased local, Witherspoon claimed that the overall circumstances resurfaced memories from his youth about a friend who’d been “shot with a double-barrel shotgun at close range” when the city council president was only 17 years old.
Witherspoon recalled being part of “the largest gang in Newark, New Jersey” at the time of his friend’s murder, openly stating before the meeting how he’d organized alongside his fellow gang members to go “looking for the person.”
However, Witherspoon claimed that when he and the other gang members found his friend’s killer, they were greeted by what he described as bonafide “mafia” members.
“Well, when we got there, we didn't realize it was a family,” Witherspoon stated, emphasizing, “And when you talk Jersey City, and you talk family, you're talking the mafia.”
Following the unexpected run in with the mafia in New Jersey, Witherspoon said he had left the city, finding his way to Nebraska where he continued his education and wound up playing sports.
The city council president admitted that he’d bought a gun once he found himself in Nebraska and dovetailed into a shooting which he admitted responsibility to.
“I played football and basketball. And the tackle, good guy, nice guy. And the guys came to my room, and we got high,” Witherspoon said, adding that he had his firearm on him all the while. Witherspoon then claimed a peer of his, who he only identified as “Nick”, came into his room and a bizarre exchange led to an unfathomable outcome.
“Nick came in my room,” the city council president claimed, adding, “I said, 'You know, Nick, I could blow your head off.' He said, 'Go ahead.' And I did…I shot him in the head point-blank.”
A shooting of this caliber would leave most people wondering why someone wouldn’t have spent a significant amount of time behind bars for such an act, let alone a conviction that could end a political career before it starts, to which Witherspoon afforded an explanation during the city council meeting.
“I went back to basketball. How did that happen? Because I had a family member, one of my uncles, he was involved with one of the families,” Witherspoon said, with the implication being the family tie was mafioso, adding, “That family made a call from Newark, to New York, to Omaha…where I was at, and I was out the next day. So that's having the right contact at the right time.”
The unexpected revelation shared by Witherspoon garnered significant local attention, with CBS affiliate WTAJ locating a newspaper from 1962 reporting on the very shooting the council president detailed.
However, there were some significant differences contained in the August 1962 reporting of the incident and the manner in which Witherspoon detailed the shooting.
In Witherspoon’s version of events shared during the July meeting, he framed the incident as an intentional shooting, but the original news report from the Scottsbluff Star-Herald explicitly described the shooting as an accident.
“Sheriff Steve Warrick, before midnight, obtained a witnessed statement from Deligianis saying there was no trouble between the youths,” the August 29th, 1962, article reads, further adding, “and they had simply been 'playing with the guns' when the one discharged.”
Furthermore, the teen shot during the incident survived completely and didn’t suffer a gunshot wound to the head in the traditionally understood sense, i.e. suffering a gunshot to the forehead or temple.
According to the 1962 report, “The bullet entered the face at the left cheekbone, crossed behind the nose passage, and lodged behind the right cheekbone. It was thought that it did not strike any area of the brain, and the youth was able to talk to both doctors and investigating officers.”
Erie City Council President Witherspoon has since not commented on his recent statements during the July meeting, or the details outlined in the original news report from August of 1962.
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Comments
2025-07-24T18:34-0400 | Comment by: arthur
Been to Erie, a very long time ago. Grew up in Jersey, but left on my own as soon as I was able, and never looked back. Seems to me this guy is a numbskull, and needs removed, full stop.
2025-07-24T20:33-0400 | Comment by: Paul
Since murder carries no expiration date. Does this mean the next article about this guy is a court date for murder?