Braddock councilwoman-elect, chief spar over police handling of shots fired into her home

A Braddock councilwoman-elect criticized two police officers she said didn’t take notes or photos after someone fired shots into her home.

The police chief on Friday defended his team.

Braddock police responded to the 100 block of Corey Avenue at about 6 a.m. Sunday for reports of gunshots at the home of former Mayor Chardae Jones, who was elected Tuesday to a borough council seat.

Jones accused police of not taking any photos of the crime scene or jotting any notes during their interviews, in a post Wednesday on X, the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter.

Jones also said in the post that police took 25 minutes to arrive at her home and she “can walk to the police department in 15.” Jones did not respond Friday to TribLive’s requests for comment.

Bradford said Jones called Braddock police at 5:58 a.m. Sunday, and the first officer was on the scene at 6:07 a.m. She placed a second call at 6:13 a.m., and another officer arrived at 6:20 a.m., he said.

Bradford said Jones’ family compromised the crime scene by removing bullets and casings from the walls. When the officers arrived, Bradford said Jones’ mother handed them about three or four bullets and four bullet casings.

“At this point everything is pretty much compromised,” Bradford said. “When somebody touches a crime scene, anything you can glean from that … is kind of destroyed.”

Bradford said he still is sending the evidence to the Allegheny County crime lab, to see what they can determine.

It was just one cop, no evidence was handled inside by no one but the officer. I even told her that I still have a bullet in my ceiling but okay, great policing. pic.twitter.com/dQHc32tQVV

— Daè (@Omgitsjustdae) November 10, 2023

No charges have been filed in the shooting and no suspects have been identified. Nobody was injured Sunday.

“We have no idea who these people were,” he said. “And with her kind of handling stuff she shouldn’t have handled, we’re at an impasse.”

Jones told TribLive news partner WTAE that “bullets rang throughout my house” on Sunday morning. Some of the shots came so close to her guests that one of them was hit with drywall. She counted at least seven bullet holes.

Jones said the shooting happened seconds after her boyfriend spotted someone trying to break into cars along Corey Avenue and yelled at them.

Jones told WTAE she has been pushing to regionalize police departments, as neighboring boroughs such as Rankin and East Pittsburgh plan to do in 2024. Jones said she feels a regionalized force would provide more complete coverage to Braddock.

Bradford, who’s been working as a police officer for 23 years, confirmed Friday he is Braddock’s only full-time officer. He said the police force there employs nine, part-time officers. The goal for maximum coverage is 13 part-time officers.

“We have enough that we’re covering everything,” he said. “There’s no issues.”

Jones on Tuesday ousted sitting Braddock Councilwoman DeAndrea Dudley in the borough council’s first-ward seat, netting 82 votes to Dudley’s 20, county election results show. Dudley joined the governing body in 2020.

In 2019, Braddock Council appointed Jones, then 29, to serve as interim mayor to succeed John Fetterman, who was leaving the mayoral post on his way to becoming lieutenant governor. Jones was the youngest person to hold the post at that time. Fetterman now serves in the U.S. senate.

Jones, a Democrat, grew up in Braddock and graduated from Woodland Hills High School in 2007, according to her website. After attending Carlow University, she served with AmeriCorps in her hometown. She has written 16 books and serves on several local boards, including Sustainable Pittsburgh and the Braddock Carnegie Library Association.