The niece of the 90-year-old Hazelwood man who was shot and killed Saturday morning in Pittsburgh’s Greenfield neighborhood said her uncle had a heart of gold.

“It’s pathetic that a man lives to be 90 years old and has to die this way,” said Marlene Regan of Point Breeze.

Samuel Rende was shot several times. A ring and watch were taken from him at about 9:50 a.m. Saturday in the 800 block of Hazelwood Avenue near the entrance to Calvary Catholic Cemetery at the intersection of Hazelwood Avenue and Bray Street, Pittsburgh police said.

Anthony Miller, 27, of White Oak, told police he shot Samuel Rende and took the ring and watch from Rende, according to a criminal complaint.

Rende was taken to UPMC Presbyterian Hospital where he died at 12:59 p.m. from a gunshot wound to the head.

Rende was shot multiple times while he sat in his black pickup truck, according to the criminal complaint.

A witness who was not named by police heard the gunshot and saw Miller with a gun in his hand walking a dog, police said. Officers tracked him from the Hazelwood Greenway on Pauley Avenue to Mansion Street where he was arrested.

Police saw the handle of a .40 caliber handgun sticking out of Miller’s sweatshirt and found a gold ring with dried blood stains in Miller’s left sock, according to the complaint.

Miller told police he’d stolen the gun from a vehicle in Pittsburgh, according to the complaint.

Miller was charged with homicide, theft, receiving stolen property, and two firearms charges.

Miller also faces a charge of simple assault in a separate case stemming from a Dec. 23 incident where he is accused of hitting a man in the leg with a crow bar at a homeless camp near South 7th and East Carson street on Pittsburgh’s South Side.

Rende was Regan’s godfather.

“He had a heart of gold. He was good to my children,” Regan said.

Raised on Johnston Avenue in Hazelwood, the Rende brothers — there were four of them, including Sam, the late Francis Rende, who is Regan’s father, Joseph and Anthony. They formed a band, the Four Aces, that was popular for playing weddings in the area, Regan said.

“Sam was a drummer,” Regan said. “For many, many years the Rende brothers were known for their music.”

He was a Marine, and served in the Korean War. He worked as a steelworker at U.S. Steel’s Homestead plant and raised his son Perry in West Mifflin, Regan said. Rende is survived by a sister, Theresa Mastriano of Greenfield. Another sister, Lucille Alexandroff, died in 2001.

After his first wife died, he remarried and had two daughters, Samantha and Catherine, Regan said.

“He loved his children dearly,” Regan said.

Active and spry, Rende was “anything but elderly,” Regan said.

When people found out she was a Rende they’d ask if she knew Sam.

“Sam was one of those guys everybody knew,” Regan said. “It makes no sense for this to happen.”

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)