Allegheny County police have arrested a third suspect in connection with a 2023 shootout in Stowe that involved undercover officers.

Jarrell Saunders, 39, of Pittsburgh was taken into custody following a traffic stop Thursday in McKeesport, county police said.

Evidence links Saunders to a gray Jeep SUV matching one used in the torching of a black Lincoln SUV after the Lincoln was involved in the shootout, police said in a criminal complaint in the case.

Dozens of shots were fired but nobody was hit in the Feb. 27, 2023, incident that began as officers in an unmarked drug task force vehicle pursued a suspicious black Lincoln SUV, according to court documents.

The Lincoln’s driver evaded attempts by law enforcement officers to stop them in a pursuit that included an exchange of gunfire, court documents indicate. The Lincoln was found on fire later that day on Paur Street in Pittsburgh’s Mt. Washington neighborhood, police said.

Video surveillance shows two men running from the Lincoln as it is lit on fire and then leaving in a Jeep SUV. Investigators used license plate readers to trace the Jeep to Saunders’ girlfriend and business partner, the complaint said.

Police said the investigation uncovered items inside the Jeep linked to Saunders and a second suspect in the case.

Detectives found a handgun in the Jeep’s center console that was reported stolen in Pittsburgh in August 2022. Other items recovered from the vehicle included a lighter and a bag of Kingsford charcoal that was inside a bag from a Dollar General store.

Saunders was captured on video departing in a gray Jeep SUV from a Bellevue Dollar General store after purchasing Kingsford charcoal and a brand of lighter fluid that was found in the rear of the torched Lincoln, the complaint said.

Saunders is charged with arson, tampering with evidence, criminal conspiracy, receiving stolen property, carrying a firearm without a license and illegal possession of a firearm.

Police said Saunders is not permitted to have a firearm after pleading guilty in 2008 to a drug charge.

Saunders was awaiting arraignment on Friday.

Police previously charged Bruce Harvard, 24, of South Side Slopes, and Eric N. Durah, 26, of Pittsburgh, in connection with the 2023 Stowe shooting.

Police arrested Harvard on Feb. 26 on 23 charges, including multiple counts of criminal conspiracy, aggravated assault, assault of a law enforcement officer, and recklessly endangering another person. Harvard was one of the people in the Lincoln SUV, according to a criminal complaint.

Durah was arrested in March 2023 on at least 25 charges, including attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, according to court documents.

Durah and Harvard remained Friday in the Allegheny County Jail.

Court records don’t list attorneys for Saunders or Harvard.

Durah is being represented by a public defender, whose office does not comment on pending cases. His jury trial is scheduled to begin April 2 in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court.

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