Details emerge in fatal Trafford shooting; police arrest suspect

The Allegheny County Medical Examiner has identified the victim of a fatal shooting in Trafford early on Thursday morning.

Anthony Michael Raymond, 27, of Pittsburgh was found by Trafford police suffering from multiple gunshot wounds in the 500 block of Fifth Street Extension shortly after 6 a.m. Thursday, according the the medical examiner’s office.

Raymond was pronounced dead at the scene.

Allegheny County police arrested Jesse Chaz Parks, 20, of Verona in connection with the shooting, which occurred near the border of Allegheny and Westmoreland counties.

Investigators recovered three spent .40 caliber bullet casings at the scene and noticed a “ballistic strike” in the bricks of a nearby building, according to a criminal complaint filed in support of the charges.

While searching the area, detectives said they found a .40 caliber Smith & Wesson pistol outside a window of a building across the street from where the bullets struck the bricks. State police in Somerset reported the gun had been stolen, according to the complaint.

The pistol had a live round of ammunition in the chamber but the magazine was missing, police said.

A Trafford police officer told county detectives that they had responded to a call for a man who was firing a gun in the 500 block of 5th Street Extension in August 2020. Nobody was injured in that incident.

Police said witnesses to that shooting identified the gunman as Parks and that several .40 caliber shell casings were recovered from the scene.

Trafford police also reported Parks was a suspect in a shooting Aug. 21 at the TGI Friday’s restaurant in Monroeville where eight .40 caliber shell casings were recovered. Nobody was injured in that incident.

Police said Parks fled the scene of the Monroeville shooting and was pulled over by Penn Hills police and taken into custody for questioning.

The Trafford officer told county detectives that Parks regularly stayed at a home in the 500 block of 5th Street Extension and may still be in the building.

Detectives said they went to the home and spoke to a woman living there, who agreed to allow them to search the residence.

Parks was found hiding in a closet of a child’s bedroom, police said.

Investigators determined that Parks had an active arrest warrant out of Florida and was taken into custody, according to the complaint.

Police said the woman at the home where Parks was found allowed investigators to search the apartment. There, police said they found a firearm magazine loaded with .40 caliber ammunition along with Park’s state-issued ID.

The Allegheny County Crime Lab determined the shell casings found in last year’s shooting in Trafford, the shooting in Monroeville and Thursday’s shooting in Trafford were all fired from the same handgun, according to the complaint.

Parks is in the Allegheny County Jail on charges of criminal homicide, tampering with evidence and receiving stolen property, county police said.

A preliminary hearing on the charges is scheduled for March 14 before District Judge Kim Berkeley Clark, according to court records.