Reality TV star Duane “Dog the Bounty Hunter” Chapman’s stepson has been arrested, months after the stepson allegedly fatally shot his teenage son.
The Collier County Sheriff’s Office in Florida on Tuesday announced the arrest of 39-year-old Gregory Anthony Zecca. Officials cited a warrant for felony charges of aggravated manslaughter of a child with a firearm and using a firearm while under the influence. Zecca is the son of Chapman’s wife Francie Chapman (née Frane) from a previous marriage.
In July, the sheriff’s office said, officers reported to a shooting incident at an apartment in Naples in southern Florida. The responding officer heard screaming on the dispatch call and first responders arrived at the home where the teenage victim — whose name was not revealed — was pronounced dead, according to an incident report shared with The Times. Law enforcement on Tuesday said an investigation had determined that Zecca “was impaired by alcohol” when he allegedly shot his son.
A legal representative for Zecca did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.
According to Tuesday’s announcement, a toxicology expert found “Zecca’s blood-alcohol concentration to be approximately 0.116 at the time of the shooting,” above the state’s limit of 0.08. Officials also said that the deputies who responded to the apartment in July “noted the odor of alcohol on Zecca and observed marijuana in plain view.”
Additionally, police claimed the investigation determined Zecca had “consumed alcohol over several hours at a local establishment,” bought more alcohol, then consumed alcohol and marijuana at a friend’s home where Zecca and his son were watching a televised UFC match. Officials allege Zecca “repeatedly handled a firearm” while his son was present and accused him of “drawing it from his waistband and dry-firing.”
Police said the firearm had been “rendered safe,” without a magazine and live round from its chamber, but “at some point” was reloaded. “Zecca discharged a single shot, fatally striking the child,” the sheriff’s office said.
Collier County Sheriff Kevin Rambosk said Zecca’s case “underscores that devastating tragedy that can result from mixing firearms, alcohol and drugs.”
Chapman and his wife Francie Chapman confirmed their grandson’s death in a July statement shared to TMZ. “We are grieving as a family over this incomprehensible tragic accident and we grieve the loss of our beloved grandson, Anthony,” they said at the time.
A representative for Chapman did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.
Duane Chapman, best known for his long-running A&E reality show “Dog the Bounty Hunter,” married Francie Chapman two years after wife Beth Chapman died in 2021 following a battle with cancer. He has been married six times and has a total of 13 children from those marriages.
Zecca made his first court appearance at the Collier County Courthouse on Wednesday and is due back for an arraignment hearing in March. State prosecutors filed a motion this week requesting Zecca remain in jail pending trial.
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