3 men charged in connection with 1-year-old's shooting death in Pittsburgh's Spring Hill

Surveillance footage led Pittsburgh police to three men allegedly involved in a shootout last month in which an 1-year-old boy sleeping in his mother’s apartment was killed by a stray bullet, according to a criminal complaint filed in the case.

Zykier Young was laying with his mother in the bedroom of their apartment on Rhine Place in the city’s Spring Hill neighborhood around 6 p.m. Aug. 24. His mother told police she heard gunfire, and peered out a window but saw nothing, the complaint said. She said she then heard more gunshots and saw debris fly through the bedroom. Then she noticed her infant had been shot in the head.

Police identified the three men allegedly involved in the shootout as Andre Crawford, 29, of McKeesport; Marvin Hill, 41; and Devon Thompson, 36, of McKees Rocks.

Officials said at a news conference Friday that they do not know who fired the fatal shot. All face homicide and other charges in connection with the incident, police said.

ShotSpotter alerts and 911 calls led police to the scene of the shooting, with 911 callers reporting “a gun war” and “they’re killing each other,” according to the complaint. One caller reported her son had been shot.

When police arrived at the apartment, they were met by a woman holding her bleeding child in her arms. Several officers took the infant to a patrol car and tried to stop the bleeding while another officer drove the cruiser to Allegheny General Hospital, according to the complaint.

Cameras throughout the housing complex captured the shootout from various angles, and that footage combined with detectives’ familiarity with some of the men allegedly involved in the gunfire led to the arrest, according to the complaint.

One shooter who police could not identify – later determined to be Crawford – was caught on camera leaving the complex in a silver Durango, according to the complaint, and police used the vehicle’s license plate number to trace it back to Crawford.

Police noted that the same license plate was picked up between 7 and 7:30 a.m. on a regular basis by plate readers outside the Squirrel Hill tunnels on the Parkway East, and detectives set up surveillance along the stretch of interstate on Wednesday, investigators wrote.

Crawford passed through the tunnel about 7:20 a.m. that morning, and detectives followed him to the Fort Duquesne Bridge and onto the East Street Exit, according to the complaint. Detectives followed the SUV to the North Side, eventually watching the driver get out near a home on Yetta Avenue in Spring Hill. Detectives wrote that the man they saw there matched the man seen on camera shooting at Rhine Place.

Officials said Crawford and Hill are being held at Allegheny County Jail, while police had warrants out for Thompson.

During Friday’s news conference, police Chief Scott Schubert condemned the violence.

“Any life taken is one too many. To take a one-year-old child from their family, to not give them the future they deserve, is unacceptable and it’s something that we will not tolerate,” he said.

Major Crimes Commander Victor Joseph said the act was spurred by “ignorance, anger and no sense of a life having value or worth.”

Joseph said officials did not know why the men began firing at each other. He praised the community for their cooperation with police. He urged the community to continue helping law enforcement with the ongoing investigation.

“As we say time and time again, we can’t do this alone. It’s a partnership with the community,” Joseph said. “We neeed your help. Zykier and his family need your help.”