North Side residents fed up, as 3 people killed, 1 injured in Saturday night shooting

Robert Steadman has had enough.

A longtime resident of Pittsburgh’s North Side, Steadman has seen too much violence, and hours after three people were killed and another wounded during a shooting Saturday night near Allegheny Commons, Steadman said it is time for action.

“You get tired of it. It’s just too much. The police don’t do … around here,” said Steadman, 55, as he walked with his three young children all under the age of 8.

Pittsburgh police said the shooting occurred just before 10 p.m. in the 300 block of Cedar Avenue. Officers responded to reports of multiple gunshots and later reported two women and one man were killed. Another man was wounded and was transported to a local hospital.

The shooting occurred in an area near a Giant Eagle grocery store and a convenience store and gas station, just a few hundred feet from the front door of the Elks Lodge and across from a playground in front of the Allegheny Commons housing community. A homeless encampment is located just around the corner.

Public Safety spokeswoman Cara Cruz said Sunday afternoon no additional information about any arrests was available, and the investigation is ongoing.

The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office identified two of the victims as Jacquelyn C. Mehalic, 33, of Muncy and 59-year-old Betty J. Averytt, hometown unknown.

Officials announced a news conference to address the shooting will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at city police headquarters with representatives from the mayor’s office and Pittsburgh’s Department of Public Safety.

There were few signs of the shooting Sunday. Rumpled police evidence tape was stuffed into two garage cans near the road, and rubber gloves were scattered on the ground near the shooting scene.

Steadman said he knew one of the victims, a woman in her 50s, who he said was just a bystander.

“There were guys coming from the (convenience store), and they started shooting at each other,” Steadman said.

Anthony Frazier, 34, lives a block from the site of the shooting. Frazier, a clerk who started his shift at the convenience store Sunday morning, said crime and incidents of violence are not unusual for the neighborhood.

“It’s definitely not uncommon for shots to be fired around here,” Frazier said.

Keith Olash has served for more than two decades as a trustee for the Elks Lodge 339, which Sunday morning hosted a breakfast for members prior to the Steelers’ game. Olash said crime has been a neighborhood problem for years.

“We never let anyone leave alone. Especially at night, we don’t want to take that chance,” Olash said. “I’m kind of glad we weren’t open last night because someone from the lodge could have gotten caught in the crossfire.”

Cruz said that, as of this weekend, there have been 56 homicides in Pittsburgh in 2022. She could not immediately provide a tally of nonfatal incidents of gun violence so far this year. The city reported 49 homicides in 2020 and 51 last year.

According to the city’s website, Pittsburgh police this year responded to more than 1,900 incidents where shots were fired and reported 152 arrests were made for aggravated assault with a firearm.

For residents, the number is already too high in an area that one police officer patrolling Sunday described as among the most dangerous in city.

Christine Zembeck, 61, sat a bus stop 12 hours after the shooting. She was just feet from the alleged crime scene.

“I’d like to get out of here and move to someplace nice, like Mt. Lebanon, but I don’t have the money to move,” Zembeck said.

UPDATE:

A total of four people were shot in this incident.

Two females and one male victim have been confirmed deceased. Another male arrived at the hospital by private means in stable condition.

The investigation is ongoing. https://t.co/YK93gwDOXP

— Pittsburgh Public Safety (@PghPublicSafety) October 16, 2022

Pittsburgh Police also responded to reports of an individual shot at approximately 2 a.m. Sunday in the city’s South Side neighborhood.

Police said they located a male victim with a gunshot wound to the chest at the intersection of South 14th Street and East Carson Street.

Police said he was taken to the hospital in critical condition and VCU detectives are investigating.

No arrests have been made and there are no suspects, according to police.