Police arrest Monroeville man in Downtown Pittsburgh daylight shooting

A Monroeville man has been arrested for wounding two people earlier this month in a daylight shooting in Downtown Pittsburgh’s Cultural District.

Pittsburgh police say Jaraye McLaughlin, 28, opened fire Aug. 1 near the end of the work day on Penn Avenue, near the Barcelona Wine Bar.

A woman was shot in the leg, according to a criminal complaint. First responders found her around 4:25 p.m. on the sidewalk near Penn and Garrison Place.

A man police found on Penn Avenue “moments later” had been shot in the groin and wrist, authorities said.

Paramedics took both victims to area hospitals.

McLaughlin was charged Aug. 6, just days after police posted footage on social media from city-owned and private cameras showing a “person of interest” in the shooting.

Police said in a criminal complaint the cameras captured the shooting.

Investigators said they used the footage to track the assailant, later identified as McLaughlin, and found him getting off a bus Downtown 17 minutes before the shooting.

Detectives said the shooter had boarded the Pittsburgh Regional Transit bus on Neville Island around 3:40 p.m., the complaint said. McLaughlin used a Ready2Ride app to pay his fare, police said. Investigators were able to link that payment to an account with McLaughlin’s name and email address.

McLaughlin faces three felony counts of aggravated assault, two felony gun possession counts and six misdemeanor charges of recklessly endangering another person.

Police arrested McLaughlin Monday and took him to the Allegheny County Jail, court records show. District Judge Matthew Brungo denied bail.

In addition to the two people who were shot, four others “were in the direct line of fire” but were not struck by bullets, police write in the complaint. Two of them were juveniles.

One person pushed their family out of the way and dove to protect a child.

Police did not name any of the victims.

Staff at two restaurants near the shooting previously told TribLive they heard three gunshots.

Multiple businesses locked their doors after the shooting. Police said it was safe to reopen about a half-hour later.

“No one wants to see violence of any kind in our neighborhoods, especially acts that put lives at risk,” Mayor Ed Gainey said in a written statement on the day of the shooting. “Let me be clear: there is no place for this kind of behavior in our city.”

Police said McLaughlin cannot legally own a gun because he pleaded guilty in a previous crime, according to the criminal complaint.

McLaughlin pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and recklessly endangering another person in connection with a July 2021 incident, court records show. He was sentenced to 15 months of probation.