Authorities arrest Pittsburgh homicide suspect in Atlanta
A Pittsburgh man wanted in the June 25 fatal shooting of a bicyclist on the North Side has been apprehended in Georgia.
Medford Taylor, 56, was taken into custody Thursday in Atlanta following an investigation by Pittsburgh police, Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. announced Tuesday.
Taylor was charged in September with homicide and firearms possession in the death of Dashawn L. Rankin, 32.
Rankin was riding his bicycle along Federal Street just before 7 a.m. when he had a brief exchange with a man walking nearby moments before he was shot, Pittsburgh police said.
Surveillance cameras captured the assailant and the victim several minutes before, during and after the shooting, Zappala said Tuesday.
Pittsburgh police found Rankin on Federal Street at about 7 a.m. He had been shot in the upper body. Rankin was taken to an area hospital where he died a short time later.
Authorities are in the process of extraditing Taylor, Zappala said.
Investigators said they identified Taylor through a combination of factors: a tip with Taylor’s last name, rough age and nickname; Facebook posts with pictures of Taylor wearing clothing and sunglasses that matched the shooter’s; and a police officer who had arrested Taylor before and pointed him out in surveillance footage.
Taylor had been convicted of aggravated assault in 1995 and was not legally allowed to possess a gun, the complaint said.
Justin Vellucci is a TribLive reporter covering crime and public safety in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County. A longtime freelance journalist and former reporter for the Asbury Park (N.J.) Press, he worked as a general assignment reporter at the Trib from 2006 to 2009 and returned in 2022. He can be reached at jvellucci@triblive.com.
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