By Brad Segall

DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (CBS) — Authorities in Bucks County, Pa. believe they’ve solved a cold case dating back nearly six years, with an arrest in connection with a fatal shooting of a Levittown, Pa. machinist at what officials described as a Bristol Township “open-air drug market” in 2006.

Bucks County DA David Heckler says it’s been a gradual process trying to solve the murder of Kevin Battista, but with the prime suspect behind bars on other charges, they were able to get key witnesses to talk.

Authorities have charged 26-year-old Ckaron Handy with homicide and related crimes.  Heckler says it appears that Battista, 30, went to the Bloomsdale neighborhood and may have been mistaken for an undercover cop.

“Father of two sons,” says DA Heckler, “provided for his two sons, was a hard-working union member who made a real bad choice on that evening to go into an area where he had not been before.”

Heckler says Battista was shot in the back that night in December 2006 when he tried to run from an attempted robbery during a drug deal. Handy is behind bars on federal charges.