Wilmerding teen charged with homicide in double fatal shooting in Pitcairn

Allegheny County Police have charged a Wilmerding teen in the fatal shooting of two other teens on June 26 in Pitcairn.

Jamon Brookins, 16, is charged as an adult with two counts of criminal homicide and a felony robbery count.

Police said Brookins, then 15, fired multiple times at Tyrant Sutton and Isiah McCarthy, both 16. The wounded teens were taken by ambulance to Forbes Hospital in Monroeville, where they were pronounced dead, according to a criminal complaint filed by police.

Investigators said an interview with Brookins and text messages between a juvenile and McCarthy revealed that Brookins was accompanying the juvenile to buy guns from McCarthy when the gunfire occurred.

Brookins told police he took his own gun along to the meeting to make sure that no one got robbed, according to the complaint.

According to Brookins’ account to police, Brookins pointed his gun at McCarthy when he thought McCarthy was going to rob the juvenile.

Brookins said the gun discharged while his finger was on the trigger and he and McCarthy were struggling over the weapon, and the gun’s magazine became dislodged, the complaint states.

Police said they later recovered the gun — which was jammed — at the scene of the Pitcairn shooting, on Shaw Alley near Wood Street.

According to the complaint, Sutton, hearing the gunfire, came into the alley, shouted, “Hey, stop,” and fired a handgun once at Brookins.

Brookins punched Sutton, causing Sutton to drop the handgun, and then Brookins picked up the gun and shot multiple times at Sutton and McCarthy.

Police said Brookins admitted taking the gun that Sutton had dropped and later discarding it. With Brookins’ assistance, police said they recovered the gun in a bush in the 400 block of Howard Street in East Pittsburgh.

Police said they used surveillance video to track a sedan that fled from the scene of the shooting to a home in East Pittsburgh, where they stopped and identified Brookins.

Items investigators recovered from the shooting scene included four spent bullet casings, a 9mm semi-automatic pistol and a backpack that contained another 9mm pistol, loaded with 22 rounds of ammunition.

Brookins was arraigned Wednesday and was placed in the Allegheny County Jail. According to online court documents, he was denied bail because he is considered a threat to the community.

He faces a Nov. 7 preliminary hearing.