Adam Selfridge

The police investigation into a stabbing and fatal shooting in Butler three weeks ago has been turned over to the district attorney's office.

City police said they offered no recommendation concerning charges in the case that left Adam Selfridge, 37, of Butler dead and Raymond A. Covelli, 35, of Butler hospitalized.

Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger will decide whether to file charges in the case. He did not return telephone calls Tuesday and Wednesday.

Court documents, meanwhile, have revealed new details about the violent clash between the two men Nov. 9 in an alley just a short walk from Selfridge's home on the 400 block of West Cunningham Street.

Among the revelations was what police described as an “unsolicited statement” by Covelli in which he admitting shooting Selfridge apparently in self-defense.

He claimed he “shot the victim on Wagner Avenue because said victim stabbed him,” according to an affidavit that police filed to obtain a search warrant during the investigation.

Police said Selfridge was fatally shot near the corner of West Cunningham Street and Wagner Avenue after he apparently stabbed another man about 1:25 a.m.

Selfridge was pronounced dead at the scene and an autopsy later determined he died of a gunshot wound to the chest.

Investigators found a pocket knife near his body, which was in the middle of Wagner Avenue.

Read more about this case in Thursday's Butler Eagle.