Multiple shooters suspected in 'war scene' that killed 2, injured 8 on Pittsburgh's North Side

Two teenage boys were killed and eight other people were injured by gunfire in an early morning shooting at a party Sunday in Pittsburgh’s North Side, police said.

A ShotSpotter notification around 12:30 a.m. sent police to a three-story building on Suismon Street near Madison Avenue in the city’s East Allegheny neighborhood, authorities said. Police arrived to more gunshots and several people running from the scene.

About 200 people, many underage, were at a party in an Airbnb rental property when at least one person opened fire, said police spokeswoman Cara Cruz.

The medical examiner’s office identified the boys late Sunday night as Mathew Steffy-Ross and Jaiden Brown, both 17.

“It’s heartbreaking,” said Police Chief Scott Schubert. “Here we are, Easter, and we have multiple families, two that won’t see a loved one and others that are going to — how can you even have a holiday when your child was involved in something traumatic like this? And all the others who were at the incident. This is traumatizing.”

He said five other people were injured trying to escape the melee, including some who jumped from the windows. Shots were fired both in the home and outside, he said, in what was possibly a back and forth exchange of gunfire.

Four Pittsburgh Public Schools students were among the injured, according to district spokeswoman Ebony Pugh.

All schools in the district will operate under a modified lockdown Monday, meaning no one can enter any campus without an appointment. Interim superintendent Wayne Walters said the decision was made out of an abundance of caution.

“So many families were impacted by today’s tragedy,” he said. “Our thoughts are with the families of lost loved ones and anyone experiencing grief and trauma during this time.”

At least 50 rounds were fired, police said. Schubert said initial reports indicated 11 people had been shot, though that number was adjusted to 10 at a noon press conference.

No arrests had been made as of 10 p.m., though Schubert said ballistic evidence indicates there were multiple shooters, though it wasn’t clear the exact circumstances of why people were firing. He said evidence suggests there were handguns and at least one long gun.

“It is our top priority to find out who did this and get them off the street,” he said.

Paramedics transported some of the injured, while others arrived at various hospitals by private vehicle, Schubert said. Police officers also drove some of the victims to the hospital.

The scene stretched for several blocks, and investigators processed around eight separate scenes.

Schubert said the scene was one of chaos.

“You had people who were fleeing, just trying to get out of there. You had officers and medics who were trying to tend to victims that they found. We would be notified that there was a victim in this location over here. “There were multiple scenes, and it was very complex and very chaotic.”

Two victims were being treated Sunday at a UPMC hospital, a spokeswoman said. Seven people were treated at Allegheny General Hospital on the North Side and one was treated at Allegheny Health Network’s Jefferson Hospital, said spokesman Dan Laurent.

Schubert implored anyone with information or photos or videos from the party to come forward, noting that some already have. Anyone who has photos or videos can upload them at http://ccudata2.quickconnect.to/sharing/uwOEfECnP

He said officials from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives reached out to offer assistance.

Police investigate at the scene of an early morning mass shooting in Pittsburgh's north side. A nearby parked vehicle can be seen smeared with blood. Reports of 11 individuals shot, 2 fatally @TribLIVE #Pittsburgh pic.twitter.com/1D4fqYnpL0

— Shane Dunlap (@shanedunlap) April 17, 2022

“This is something that shouldn’t have happened,” Schubert said. “This goes back to having too many guns — too many illegal guns — on the streets. Too many people have access to these illegal weapons.”

‘It was a war scene’

Chris Rosselot has lived on Vinial Street for 15 years, a few blocks away from the site of the shooting. He said he heard at least 30 gunshots early Sunday morning, and then sirens that shortly followed.

“It was a war scene, there were a couple victims that made it to the firehouse,” said Rosselot. Pittsburgh Fire Bureau Station 32 is located about three blocks from the scene of the shooting.

Later in the morning, he walked over to the house on Suismon and said he spoke to a man who told him he had been renting out the bottom apartment unit of the AirBnb, and was returning to the unit to retrieve some items he left.

The man told Rosselot that he and his children left the AirBnb at 11:30 p.m. on Saturday because the party upstairs was getting too chaotic. The man said he called the police at the same time.

According to Rosselot, when the man returned to the unit, he said he found bullet holes in the wall.

Rosselot added that the home on Suismon wasn’t necessarily known as a problem house for hosting AirBnb events, but he said the North Side is a hotbed for rental properties.

He said there is no accountability for problem AirBnb properties in the city, and said “there definitely needs to be more local oversight” of properties.

Mitchell Wilston, 30, lives a few doors down from the property on Suismon.

He said that by 11 p.m. Saturday, the area was crowded with people and cars. There was a line of people waiting to get into the party. He said he noticed a police presence, but no efforts to break up the party.

“It was mayhem,” he said.

Wilston said he and his wife left the area at 11:30 p.m. to go downtown for a gathering and were not home at the time of the shooting.

Sunday morning, they saw blood on one of their cars parked on Suismon.

Jared Stelmach, who lives on Peralta Street near the Suismon home, said it was “chaos” after he heard the shots.

“A lot of people were screaming, and a lot of cars were speeding away,” said Stelmach. “People were booking it.”

Soe people ran into Verdettos’ Bar across and empty lot from the home.

Nearly two dozen bullet holes could be seen in buildings at the corner of Turtle Way and Peralta Street, more than 100 feet away from the Suismon home.

A red building on Peralta and Turtle had about 16 apparent bullet holes in the side of the home, including one in a second-floor window.

Across the street from the red building, another residence on Peralta Street had at least five visible holes in the front of the building, including one in a first-floor window and another in a second-floor window.

The property owners of the Peralta Street home told the Tribune-Review that their second-floor tenant was shaken up, as a bullet hit the comforter on her bed. The owners would not reveal their names, fearing retribution, but said a video from a Ring camera on the first floor of the residence captured the scene of the shooting and has been sent to Pittsburgh Police.

Another North Side resident who asked to have his name withheld said he woke to screaming and cars racing in the neighborhood. The resident lives about three blocks away from the Suismon home and said he saw people outside on the ground immediately after the shooting, and some people with apparent broken legs.

Investigators wrapped up their work at the scene just before sunrise, leaving behind balled up yellow police tape and stickers marking bullet holes in several cars.

At least two vehicles had windows shot out, including a DaVita dialysis van that was parked in a lot across Suismon Street from the scene. A Chevy Cruze in the same lot had its windshield shot out as well as one of the back windows. A front window was cracked from gunfire, and there were three bullet marks on the roof.

Glasses, a jacket and several shoes littered the area around the scene.

Across the street, where the shooting happened, a shattered second-story window hung open. Another window was also shattered.

Allegheny County real estate records listed the owner of the multi-lot property as 900 North Group, LLC, which has an owner address in Whitehall, about 10 miles away.

It was not immediately clear to whom the property had been rented.

Airbnb statement

Ben Breit, a spokesman for Airbnb, said only adults can book a property, and parties are supposed to be strictly prohibited.

He said the individual who booked the home where the shooting happened will be banned for life and the company “will be considering all legal options to hold this person accountable.”

“Our hearts go out to all who were impacted — including loved ones of those who lost their lives, injured victims and neighbors,” Breit said.

A violent spring

The incident is the latest in a spate of violence that has plagued the city as spring has worn on.

About 2 a.m. Saturday, police in Marshall-Shadeland heard gunshots and chased an SUV to a hospital parking lot where they found a man shot in the backseat. He died at the hospital. Later in the morning, a man was stabbed in Garfield. Another man was arrested in that incident.

About 2:30 p.m., three people were shot near Singer Place in the East Hills. A ShotSpotter notification at about 10:30 p.m. capped off Saturday, leading police to a man who had been shot in the street near Centre Avenue and Addison Street in the Hill District.

On Wednesday, a man was shot in the stomach in Homewood South. The day prior, a triple shooting in the Hill District injured three men. On Monday around 11:45 p.m., a man showed up at the hospital with a gunshot wound. He said he’d been shot in the Hill District but offered no other details.

Mayor asks for help

In a statement Sunday, Mayor Ed Gainey urged people with knowledge of the incident to come forward.

“We are using all available resources to find those responsible for this incident,” Gainey said. “Thank you to the community members who have already reached out with their information, and if you know something, say something.”

Gainey said he plans to call a meeting with community and public safety leaders to discuss ways to address violence in the city.

“It is critical that we come together now to help reduce the violence currently happening while we begin to do the long-term work of ending the culture of violence that is enabling the senseless loss of life we are experiencing today,” he said.

Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call police at 412-323-7161. Gainey also provided a link for people to upload photos and videos connected with the Airbnb shooting.

Staff writer Joe Napsha and news editor John Allison contributed to this report.