Authorities ID Pittsburgh man as Lawrenceville gas station homicide victim

Authorities on Tuesday identified a 26-year-old Pittsburgh man as the person fatally shot last month at a Lawrenceville gas station.

Davon Smith-Mahdi was killed, and a second person was wounded, on Aug. 2 at the A-Plus Sunoco gas station in Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville neighborhood.

Pittsburgh police charged a clerk at the convenience store, Randell Antonio Tate, 22, of Pittsburgh, with homicide and aggravated assault.

Tate was denied bail at an arraignment a day after the shooting, court records show. He remains in the Allegheny County Jail.

Police initially identified the two shooting victims as males but did not disclose their ages in a criminal complaint against Tate filed in City Court.

Smith-Mahdi, the man identified in court records as “Victim 2,” was shot four times in the chest and back, a criminal complaint said. His identity was confirmed Tuesday by the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office.

The other man, identified by police as “Victim 1,” was shot in the foot.

Neither Allegheny County nor Pittsburgh police could explain why it took one month to identify Smith-Mahdi.

Caught on video

The shooting at the gas station at 51st and Butler streets was reported around 3:30 a.m.

According to a criminal complaint, Victim 1 told police he sought an apology from Tate for spreading stories about him.

Tate, who waived his Miranda rights, told police that Victim 1 was present during an attempted sexual assault of his sister, the complaint states.

The victim left the store and returned with another man, according to Tate’s account to police.

Tate told investigators the victim wanted an apology for Tate spreading his name about the incident with his sister.

Tate said he apologized but the man threatened him, the complaint states.

The confrontation was captured on the store’s surveillance cameras.

In the video, Tate, the lone clerk, is seen talking with both males standing in the open bulletproof glass door to the cashier station. The conversation appears to escalate, with Victim 1 propping the glass door open.

Both men follow Tate as he retreats into the cashier’s station.

Tate is seen drawing a pistol from his waistband and opening fire at both males, who flee from the cashier’s station, past the secure bulletproof door and into the store, according to the complaint.

The video shows Tate pursuing them to the store’s front door, filing all the while, the complaint said.

Attorney George Saba, who represents Tate, declined comment.

Tate’s preliminary hearing, originally scheduled to take place last month, is set for Oct. 17.