Lawyer: Notes on report show Wilkinsburg police may have been chasing the wrong man before deadly shooting

There’s no video footage of the 43-second pursuit of Romir Talley by Wilkinsburg police in December 2019, which ended in Talley’s death after being shot seven times by police.

But an emergency medical services log obtained by the attorney representing Talley’s family indicates that police may have been going after the wrong man when they encountered Talley and followed him from Penn Avenue onto Stoner Way. The encounter ended in a yard behind 908 Center St., where Talley is alleged to have fired once before he was killed.

“If this EMS report is accurate, then we have an extremely big problem on our hands,” attorney Paul Jubas said. “This would basically prove they killed the wrong person.”

The Dec. 22 pursuit of Talley, 24, was initiated by a 911 call about a man who had pulled a gun on the caller at the intersection of Penn Avenue and Wood Street. The man was described as wearing a black jacket and gray sweatpants, having dreadlocks and carrying a silver handgun, according to county police, who routinely investigate shootings involving law enforcement.

The caller was on the line with a dispatcher as the police were responding.

The dispatcher asked for the caller’s location. The caller became agitated and said “why does it matter,” and reported that police pulled down into an alleyway but should have stayed on Penn because the man was still on Penn, according to notes from the dispatcher in the EMS report obtained by Talley’s family that was provided to Jubas.

At that point the call was disconnected, according to the report.

Jubas is asking for Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr.’s office to release recordings of the 911 call and the statements that Wilkinsburg police Officer Robert Gowans and other police gave to county police, who investigated the shooting.

“The Allegheny County police won’t be commenting on individual pieces of information that surface over time,” county police Supt. Coleman McDonough said. “We have turned our complete investigative findings over to the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office.”

The only way to find out if the notes in the EMS report are accurate is to review the recording of the call and the statements by Wilkinsburg police, Jubas said.

“As long as we have those things, we will be able to iron out this detail definitively,” Jubas said. “Everything that comes out tends to disprove their (police’s) story.”

The case has prompted protests and outcry in Wilkinsburg. Police and borough officials haven’t commented on it. Police Chief Ophelia Coleman didn’t return messages seeking comment Monday.

Talley’s family has called for the borough police force to be disbanded and for Gowans to be charged in the case. The DA’s office has said it is hampered in its investigation because Wilkinsburg police aren’t equipped with body cameras.

“The lack of this type of evidence has greatly complicated the process that my office has in place to deal with these types of investigations,” Zappala spokesman Mike Manko has said previously.

On Monday, Manko said the EMS logs were also provided to Allegheny County police as part of its investigation into the shooting and that the information is “also part of our ongoing review” into the case.

In July, Gowans reported to Wilkinsburg police that a mural honoring Talley was being painted on the side of a Penn Avenue building, without authorization. That led to felony charges against three people who painted the mural.

Jubas intends to file a federal civil rights lawsuit against the borough and police alleging excessive use of force, he said.

County police have listened to Jubas’ concerns and have referred him to Zappala’s office, Jubas said.

“The DA doesn’t have anything to say to me about it,” Jubas said. “People are getting behind the Talley family for a push here. This is definitely the type of fuel on the fire that could get things going.”

He’s warned borough officials they’re “playing with fire,” Jubas said.

“Something terrible can happen. You might as well just light a match,” Jubas said. “I do think the community is going to start making a much bigger deal about this.”