Justin Vellucci stories, Page 46
Doctor denounces Allegheny County’s use of health workers to count votes
Allegheny County Health Department workers are pitching in with Election Day duties, prompting one Pittsburgh-based doctor to criticize the move at a time when the county’s health resources are in high demand. “I think it’s a poor use of resources — I don’t think people became doctors and epidemiologists to...
1 hurt in McKeesport shooting
Police are investigating a shooting in McKeesport that left at least one man injured Monday morning. The shooting was reported just after 6 a.m. in the 2100 block of Beacon Street. First responders found a man suffering “from several gunshot wounds,” Allegheny County Police said. The victim was taken to...
Suspect in Penn Hills homicide arrested in Georgia
Police in Georgia arrested a suspect wanted in connection with a September homicide in Penn Hills. U.S. Marshals and sheriff’s deputies apprehended Michael D. Wade, 36, in DeKalb County after an arrest warrant was issued on a charge of criminal homicide, Allegheny County Police said. Wade is accused of shooting...
Butler County judge backs injunction against striking Post-Gazette workers; P-G contacts federal mediator
A Butler County judge on Tuesday backed an injunction against striking Pittsburgh Post-Gazette union members and their supporters, limiting how they can picket at the Butler Eagle where the newspaper has been printed during the strike. The court order, which the Butler County Prothonotary posted online Tuesday afternoon, allows only...
Suspect in Mt. Oliver stabbing turns himself in, police say
A Mt. Oliver man suspected in a stabbing last week turned himself in on Tuesday, Allegheny County Police said. Police charged Derrickus Poston, 28, with aggravated assault and simple assault in connection with the incident, which police said happened early Friday in the 100 block of Mt. Oliver’s Margaret Street....
Police: 6 people shot outside Brighton Heights church
Update: Police later corrected information to reveal that five people were shot, and one person was injured while trying to escape the melee. The Rev. Nicita Moses was speaking from the pulpit in her church during a funeral service in Brighton Heights on Friday afternoon when shots started to ring...
Weapons found on 2 Sto-Rox students
Teachers found weapons on two Sto-Rox students at security checkpoints at Sto-Rox Junior/Senior High School Friday morning, officials said. Officials did not immediately describe what type of weapons were confiscated. The first weapon was discovered in a student’s backpack at the checkpoint, Superintendent Megan Marie Van Fossan said in a...
3 shot, wounded in Pittsburgh’s Spring Hill neighborhood
Three people were wounded in a North Side shooting late Thursday. Pittsburgh police said a total of 34 rounds were fired on the 100 block of Rhine Place in Spring Hill around 11:55 p.m. Thursday. A woman suffered a gunshot wound to the arm, a second woman was struck in...
Man hid camera in Frick Pittsburgh bathroom, police say
Pittsburgh police are looking for a man suspected of hiding a camera inside a city museum’s bathroom to spy on museum-goers. The man is believed to have taken “multiple pictures and video of victims (ranging) from children to senior citizens” at The Frick Pittsburgh on South Homewood Avenue in Point...
Pittsburgh’s soaring homicide rate leaves officials baffled
Pittsburgh police said Thursday its officers have investigated 59 homicides to date in 2022 — the highest rate in at least seven years and a 25% spike year over year. There have been nearly 700 homicides in Pittsburgh since 2010, county records show. Homicides in Pittsburgh hit 60 in 2015...
Bicyclist injured in crash with school bus in Richland
A bicylist who was injured after being struck by a school bus in the North Hills has been upgraded to stable condition at an area hospital, police said. The 29-year-old man, who police did not name, was riding southbound on Route 8 in Richland around midnight Tuesday when he was...
Pittsburgh police respond to gunshots fired near 2 Downtown schools
Police responded Tuesday afternoon to gunfire in front of two Downtown Pittsburgh schools. The incident occurred at 3:30 p.m. in the 900 block of Penn Avenue, in front of Urban Pathways K-5 College Charter School and Passport Academy Charter School. “At this time it is not known what led to...
Allegheny County councilwoman disputes claim that Shuman closure led to spike in gun, youth violence
In the aftermath of last week’s triple homicide on the North Side, Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey blamed increased gun and youth violence, in part, on the closure of Shuman Juvenile Detention Center. “We should have never closed Shuman without a plan,” Gainey said during a news conference related to the...
Mon Valley air quality prompts another pollution warning
Unfavorable weather conditions led the Allegheny County Health Department to extend a weekend warning about Mon Valley air quality through at least Tuesday morning. On Monday morning, the Mon Valley “experienced one of the strongest weather inversions in some time,” the health department said in a countywide email alert. A...
Police: Turtle Creek motorist shoots another motorist
A Turtle Creek man was arrested after shooting a fellow motorist in the shoulder while driving, Allegheny County Police said Monday. Matthew Alfaro, 23, was charged with aggravated assault, carrying a firearm without a license, and recklessly endangering another person. He was taken to Allegheny County Jail for arraignment. Around...
Community meetings set in search for next Pittsburgh police chief
Beth Pittinger thinks about Pittsburgh Police’s next chief and sees a world of opportunity. The director of the Citizens Police Review Board believes retired Chief Scott Schubert’s successor, who Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey plans to appoint after a national search, could be a beacon for accountability. “It would need to...
Squirrel Hill residents concerned about intersection near Fern Hollow Bridge
Some Squirrel Hill residents are petitioning Pittsburgh officials to temporarily hold off on reconfiguring a dangerous intersection in their neighborhood. City officials, however, claim the proposed work needs to be done quickly because money for it is included in the $25.3 million of federal funding being used to pay for...
11-year-old hit by car in Pittsburgh
An 11-year-old girl was hospitalized after being hit by a car Friday afternoon near a school in Carrick. The girl, who was identified as a Pittsburgh Southbrook School student, was meeting a younger sibling who attends Pittsburgh Concord School when the incident occurred, school spokesperson Ebony Pugh said. The girl...
Volunteer firefighter from Collier died in Parkway East crash
The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office on Thursday identified the man who died in a crash the day before on the Parkway East as 32-year-old Terry Tackett. Tackett, a volunteer firefighter who lived in Collier, was taken to UPMC Mercy in Uptown after the crash happened around 6:20 a.m. Wednesday...
2 school officers injured breaking up fight at Oliver Citywide Academy, police say
Two Pittsburgh Public School officers were injured after a fight broke out Thursday afternoon at Pittsburgh Oliver Citywide Academy on the city’s North Side, officials said. The two officers’ injuries were “not too severe,” Pittsburgh Public School spokeswoman Ebony Pugh told the Tribune-Review. The two individuals planned to go to...
Critics of Move PGH pilot program say it’s not adequately serving disabled, low-income residents
Move PGH and Pittsburgh’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure recently lauded a two-year pilot program that brought Spin e-scooters to the city, but some critics say the effort isn’t doing enough to serve disabled and low-income residents. “This is the most extreme example of marginalizing the disability community I’ve seen...
2 women killed in North Side shooting were innocent bystanders, police say; 3rd victim ID’d
A 33-year-old mother of four was among three people killed Saturday night when a gas-station parking lot argument escalated into an exchange of gunfire. Jacquelyn Mehalic was on her way to work as a waitress around 10 p.m. Saturday when gunfire broke out in the 300 and 400 blocks of...
