Police identify victim, suspect in Oliver Citywide Academy shooting

An Oliver Citywide Academy student was shot and killed by another student Wednesday morning outside the school, police said.

Police identified the victim as Derrick Harris, 15. The suspect, Jamier Perry, also 15, is charged with homicide, possession of firearm by a minor and carrying a firearm without a license in connection with the shooting.

Both teens are students at the school on Brighton Road in Pittsburgh’s Marshall-Shadeland neighborhood, said Maria Montano, a public safety spokesperson.

Police said Harris was taken to a local hospital and died of his wounds.

Police and EMS were called to the school just before 7:30 a.m., according to Pittsburgh Police Cmdr. Richard Ford. Officers found Harris shot multiple times in front of the school’s front entrance.

Officers said they saw Perry running from scene with a gun. Police took him into custody without further incident and recovered a 9 mm handgun. He was being held at Allegheny County Jail.

“We believe based on the information that we have and the video that we’ve been able to see that we have the actor in custody,” Ford said.

Sources are telling us one person has been shot. @PghPolice are standing overtop of a gun along the sidewalk along Brighton Road @WPXI https://t.co/lsREBNt0IE pic.twitter.com/qUWEr3yjKH

— Lauren Talotta (@LaurenTalottaTV) May 24, 2023

Classes were canceled Wednesday, and the district said the school will remain closed until Tuesday.

A small number of students were in the building before classes when the shooting happened, Montano said. Other students on the way to the school by bus were diverted to Manchester, where alternate plans to bring them home were made.

“Pittsburgh, please join me in prayer for the family, friends and the entire Oliver Citywide Academy community as they are once again mourning a young life taken by gunfire,” Mayor Ed Gainey said in a statement. “I’m proud of the quick response by our Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, who were on the scene within minutes and were able to apprehend the suspect. Thank you for your continued work in making Pittsburgh safe.”

“No child should ever have to fear going to school, and no parent should ever worry about their child never coming home,” he added.

The shooting comes about 16 months after another Oliver student was shot and killed as he sat in a van outside the school. Police last month charged Eugene Watson, 18, and his brother, Brandon Watson, 17, both of the city’s Crafton Heights neighborhood, with homicide, conspiracy and two firearms violations in connection with the January 2022 shooting death of Marquis Campbell, 15. The Watsons are both charged as adults.

“Pittsburgh, we can and must do better,” Gainey said. ” We have to cultivate a new culture, create a new path forward for our kids, and we are committed to investing in our kids to provide them with hope for a better tomorrow and a future that doesn’t end with bullets and gunfire.

“We are willing to work with everyone who wants to be a part of the solution.”

Marshall-Shadeland residents were upset by the shooting Wednesday afternoon but had mixed takes on violence in the neighborhood.

Spencer Smay, who is on disability leave, said the Brighton Road house he’s lived in his whole life — just steps from the school — is not a dangerous place.

“Things like this aren’t unusual, unfortunately, but I basically feel pretty safe,” said Smay, 33.

Robert Patterson attended Oliver when it was a public high school. He graduated in 1991.

He said things have gone downhill since the school became a full-time special education center. Pittsburgh Public Schools stresses on its website that each Oliver student has an individualized education plan, or IEP. Patterson called some of the students “troubled.”

“But I don’t care if the kids are troubled, they still have to be safe,” said Patterson, 51, who’s lived on Ingham Street in Marshall-Shadeland for the past six years. “I just feel sad for the children going there.”

Mike Gaefke, another Ingham Street resident, said Oliver Citywide Academy has been “nothing but trouble.”

“They just need to close it down,” said Gaefke, 50. “There’s violence — these kids are out of control.”

At Dave’s Barber Shop off Brighton Road in nearby California-Kirkbridge, two barbers lamented the recent rise in violence at the Brighton Road school.

“It feels like it all comes down to role models, that’s what really changes everything,” said Jonathan, who did not want to use his last name.

“It’s just going to be stuck in this same stigma forever,” he said. “If we’re known for having shootings … we’re probably going to keep having shootings.”