Pleasant Hills man killed son, then himself, police say

A Pleasant Hills man Monday morning fatally shot his son before turning the gun on himself, authorities confirmed Tuesday.

Edgar Dawson, 72, shot his son, Bradley, 38, once in the head around 7 a.m. in the single-family home they shared, Allegheny County Police said. He then shot himself in the head.

Until an Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office autopsy, it was not clear who the shooter was. The office on Tuesday ruled Edgar Dawson’s death a suicide and his son’s death a homicide.

Police Tuesday offered few clues about what happened a day earlier at the modest, two-story home at 464 Nantucket Dr.

Police said they were dispatched at 7:21 a.m. for a potential shooting at the Dawson home. When they arrived, nobody answered the door.

A “critical incident response team,” a SWAT-style group comprising police officers from multiple South Hills communities, was called in. Around 9 a.m., they went door to door, telling residents of nearby homes to stay indoors, neighbors told TribLive.

Authorities entered the home by breaking through a large glass window facing the residential street.

Inside, they found the father and son, both dead from single gunshot wounds. The two men both were pronounced dead at 9:21 a.m., the medical examiner’s office said.

Investigators stressed there was no threat to the public.

Brian Dawson — Edgar Dawson’s other son, according to an obituary posted online — declined to speak Tuesday with a TribLive reporter. Edgar’s wife, Barbara Dawson, a longtime special education teacher for the Baldwin Whitehall School District — died in 2021.

No criminal charges in the deaths are anticipated.

“I would not expect anything more from us,” Jim Madalinsky, a county police spokesperson, said Tuesday.