Justin Vellucci stories, Page 24
New Year’s Eve celebration on North Side ends with fight, fatal stabbing
A small New Year’s Eve gathering in Pittsburgh ended in tragedy late Sunday when a North Side man fatally stabbed his roommate during a fight that escalated after several hours of drinking, authorities said. The victim, Luis Soto, 35, was identified Wednesday by the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office. Martin...
1-year-old Wall girl nearly died ingesting ‘tranq’; 9 months later, police arrest her father
A convicted drug dealer was arraigned Tuesday on charges that he nearly killed his 1-year-old daughter last spring when the girl ingested “tranq,” a powerful sedative mixed with fentanyl that authorities said he was using in her Wall home. Jeffrey Lee Carter, 36, of Clairton was visiting the mother of...
Pittsburgh homicides plunged in 2023, mirroring drops in Allegheny County, nation
It was an ominous start to 2023: Gunmen murdered police officers in Brackenridge and McKeesport during the first six weeks. While the two high-profile shootings heralded a lawless and violent year ahead, Allegheny County and Pittsburgh actually saw a drop in homicides, reflecting similar decreases across the country. And as...
Medical examiner IDs man found fatally shot on porch of his Carrick home
The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office has identified the man found fatally shot New Year’s Eve on the porch of his Carrick home. The medical examiner’s office identified the victim Wednesday as Lonnell Newkirk, 44. Pittsburgh police said Newkirk was found shot in the chest on his front porch in...
‘Life is not promised’: Family and friends mourn loss of Richland teen in car crash
In June, Ellie Tourney had to bury her husband. Now, she has to bury her son. “We were proven twice that life is not promised. We’ve learned that twice in seven months,” Tourney said Wednesday. “If God wants you, he’s going to wrap you in his arms. It’s hard to...
2nd teen identified in fatal McCandless crash
A second teenager killed after a speeding car with six passengers crashed in McCandless early Saturday was identified Tuesday afternoon. Jonathan Tourney, 14, of Gibsonia, died after being flown to an area hospital at 4:32 a.m. Saturday, just an hour after the crash occurred at the intersection of Babcock Boulevard...
McMurray man caught with gun at Pittsburgh airport
A Washington County man’s loaded handgun was confiscated on Christmas Day by Transportation Security Administration officers at Pittsburgh International Airport, authorities said. The McMurray resident, whose name was not released, attempted to bring the .380-caliber handgun with his carry-on items through TSA security at the Findlay airport, TSA spokeswoman Lisa...
Police say Pittsburgh man stabbed girlfriend 5 times after argument
Allegheny County Police said a Pittsburgh man who stabbed his girlfriend at least five times following an argument in Carnegie late Friday night was taken into custody Tuesday morning. Joshua Michael Meyer, 41, of Pittsburgh’s Elliott neighborhood went to his partner’s Carnegie residence and got into a verbal argument with...
Volunteers, staff at Pitt serve 2,800 hot meals to those in need at annual Christmas event
Cyril Lucas doesn’t tend to cook family feasts on Christmas morning. The retired Air Force veteran, who grew up in Braddock and McKeesport, has no children, and none of his relatives live in the Pittsburgh area. But Lucas wasn’t among an estimated 19 million Americans who spent Christmas alone Monday....
U.S. Steel sale will create new jobs, spark investment in Mon Valley, analyst says
John C. Tumazos thinks unions and Pennsylvania politicians have gotten the U.S. Steel sale all wrong. The Wilkinsburg-bred metals industry analyst said Nippon Steel’s $14.9 billion acquisition of the Pittsburgh-based steel icon will not trigger mass layoffs in Southwestern Pennsylvania or encourage the new owners to idle mills. Instead, the...
U.S. Steel workers in Western Pa. unsure what Nippon deal means for local mills, their future
Third-generation steelworker Don Jackson said he’s seen how mill owners weathering an economic downturn can cripple a city. In Pittsburgh in 1984, a year after Jackson graduated from high school, J&L Steel shuttered the 140-year-old South Side mill that sat just a mile from Jackson’s Arlington home. At its peak,...
Christmas-delivery shipping deadlines are fast approaching
People are running out of time to have gifts shipped in time for Christmas, with at least one deadline arriving as early as this weekend. Saturday is the last day you can have something shipped by the U.S. Postal Service in time for the holiday. The Postal Service’s first-class or...
Christmas-delivery shipping deadlines are fast approaching
People are running out of time to have gifts shipped in time for Christmas, with at least one deadline arriving as early as this weekend. Saturday is the last day you can have something shipped by the U.S. Postal Service in time for the holiday. The Postal Service’s first-class or...
Gainey, Pittsburgh firefighters hand out free winter coats to students
Every day of the week, fifth-grader Jaiden Harper walks a few blocks to get to classes at Helen S. Faison Arts Academy in Homewood. This year, the late-autumn cold hasn’t been so bad. Jaiden still took his time Friday morning to pick out the right winter coat. One was small,...
Pittsburgh police set to realign next year amid union concerns about staffing
Pittsburgh police are working to realign the shrinking 770-officer force in the new year, but union leaders warn that the bureau shouldn’t reorganize in the midst of a staffing crisis. In 2024, Chief Larry Scirotto said he plans to launch a street crime team, hire a dozen young adults as...
Man shot at Arby’s in Downtown Pittsburgh
A man was injured Thursday afternoon during a shooting in a fast-food restaurant Downtown. Pittsburgh police responded to an Arby’s in the 800 block of Liberty Avenue around 3 p.m. after shots were fired inside the restaurant, spokeswoman Cara Cruz said. A total of 15 rounds were fired. Two men...
DA to prosecute crash that killed Serra Catholic student as ‘murder case’
An Irwin man accused of racing another motorist in Dravosburg in September was speeding at 107 mph seconds before he crashed into a Serra Catholic school van, killing a 15-year-old student and hospitalizing four other people, authorities said Thursday. The second driver also was speeding and fled the scene, authorities...
Beaver County police officer charged in 2022 death of bystander at shooting scene
A Beaver County police officer accused of assaulting a man who later died is facing an involuntary manslaughter charge, according to the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office. A grand jury recommended charging former Center police officer John J. Hawk, 37, with involuntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, simple assault, reckless endangerment and perjury....
Neighbor describes ‘war’-like explosion that destroyed Sewickley Heights cottage
Rich Engler was sitting with a friend in his Sewickley Heights home when the neighborhood shook. “All of a sudden, this immense blast took place — we thought something had hit our place,” said Engler, 77, a local music producer who’s lived among the borough’s massive estates and rolling hills...
Man robbed Hill District convenience store at gunpoint, police say
A Hill District man is accused of robbing a convenience store around the corner from his home at gunpoint late Monday and running away with $440 in cash. Pittsburgh police said they arrested Quintin Briskey, 33, around 11:50 p.m. on Webster Avenue, less than one-fifth of a mile from the...
Driver killed after crashing car through embankment, falling upside-down atop garage
First responders struggled to free a woman killed Monday afternoon after she drove her car over a 30- to 40-foot embankment in Pittsburgh’s Lincoln-Lemington neighborhood, flipping the vehicle upside-down and landing atop an abandoned garage below. Firefighters’ feet literally sunk into the roof of the garage, which already was caving...
Tree of Life unveils memorial to victims of 2018 synagogue shooting
It’s been five long years since Diane Rosenthal’s brothers, Cecil and David, were killed during a Saturday morning Shabbat service in Squirrel Hill. Part of her family’s struggle has been deciding how to ask Pittsburgh and others to remember the two Jewish congregants known to their community as “the boys.”...
Rooster’s Roadhouse employee remembers 1800s-era Collier tavern destroyed by fire
Tiffany Parnes had worked at Rooster’s Roadhouse in Collier for only a couple of weeks. But she sensed something special about the historic tavern, from its wood-paneled walls and game room’s high-backed chairs to the homemade, honey jalapeno-flavored relish in which it marinated its Buffalo wings every Wednesday. “Their food...
Pittsburgh pays Dr. Bennet Omalu $10K to investigate man’s death after police run-in
Pittsburgh paid a famous pathologist $10,000 this week to investigate the death of a homeless man who city police shocked repeatedly with a Taser in October 2021. Tuesday’s payment to Dr. Bennet Omalu came eight months after the city settled a lawsuit with the man’s family for $8 million. The...
Record 41st gun seized at Pittsburgh International Airport checkpoint, TSA says
Allegheny County Police arrested a Pittsburgh man on Wednesday after authorities said he brought a loaded gun to Pittsburgh International Airport. Transportation Security Administration officers’ move to confiscate the .380-caliber handgun, which was loaded with six bullets, brings the total number of guns caught at the airport’s checkpoints this year...
