Man accused of shooting woman 5 times outside Tarentum apartment building to stand trial for homicide

A man charged with shooting a 30-year-old Tarentum woman to death outside her apartment in December will stand trial on homicide charges, an Allegheny County judge ruled Friday.

Homicide detectives testified at a preliminary hearing for DaShawn Frederick, 26, of Wilkinsburg, saying he fired seven shots from a 9 mm pistol at Arquwonna Wright, 30, on the night of Dec. 16 as she stood near the intersection of Main Street and Fifth Avenue. She was dead at the scene.

Frederick was ordered to stand trial on the charge by Judge Kim Berkeley-Clark at the conclusion of a more-than-two-hour hearing in Pittsburgh Municipal Court. Frederick is being detained in Allegheny County Jail to await trial after bail was denied at his arraignment Dec. 24.

An autopsy conducted by the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office determined Wright suffered five gunshot wounds to the head, neck, back and arm, with the shots to the back and head causing her fatal injuries, according to the autopsy report presented during the hearing.

Detective Mark Restori testified police were able to connect Frederick to the shooting from surveillance video that showed a gray or silver SUV they identified as a Mitsubishi Outlander near the intersection at the time of the shooting.

When questioned by Frederick’s lawyer, James Wymard, detectives conceded his client cannot be positively identified in any of several surveillance videos that were obtained.

Investigators said they began checking area car rental companies after learning Frederick was on active duty with the Army stationed in Hawaii. He had come to the Pittsburgh area on leave between Dec. 10 and Jan. 2 and likely would have needed transportation while here.

Police said they were able to determine Frederick rented a silver Mitsubishi Outlander from Avis on Dec. 15 and returned it as scheduled at Pittsburgh International Airport on Dec. 20, four days after the shooting.

Maurice Ferentino, an agent for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, testified Frederick bought two guns, a .22-caliber and a 9 mm, on Dec. 15 from the Rural King gun shop in Monaca, Beaver County, along with a 20-round box of 9 mm ammunition stamped “Ammo Inc.”

The agent noted Frederick also bought a 9 mm pistol in July 2018 and another one in June.

Restori testified seven shell casings were recovered from the scene and all were stamped Ammo Inc. A detective said the shells were sent to the crime lab to determine if fingerprints can be recovered from them. The results of those tests were not completed in time for the hearing.

Police did not recover a weapon at the scene near the Philip Burtner Apartments, where Wright lived.

One of the surveillance videos shows Wright walking toward the SUV’s driver side before turning and running away, and then falling on the street, where she was found dead.

One of the videos shows what appear to be muzzle flashes coming from the driver’s side of the SUV.

Tarentum police found Wright face down on the ground when they responded at 11:06 p.m. to a report of shots fired.

County homicide Detective Nicole DePaoli said she obtained a warrant for Wright’s and Frederick’s cellphone records and found Wright made an 88-second call to Frederick five minutes before the shooting was reported.

A few minutes before the call was made, a text message was sent from Frederick’s number to Wright that read: “All that (expletive) you was talkin’ you ain’t on any of that scared to open ya door and it sound like you was cryin’.”

Prosecutors did not suggest what the text might be referencing, but Frederick’s lawyer said it appears to be sympathetic in nature.

“It sounds like someone counseling somebody,” Wymard said.

In the criminal complaint filed in support of the charges, detectives said a person who lives in Wright’s apartment building reported hearing two people arguing before multiple gunshots rang out.

Another resident, who was not identified as male or female, said they heard Wright outside the apartment building before the shooting and believed she was on the phone in a heated argument with a man. They told police Wright was talking very loudly and yelling at times.

According to the complaint, the resident heard Wright tell the man on the phone many times that he and his mother should leave her alone. The resident said Wright yelled some obscenities and ended the conversation by saying, “Come around here again and see what happens to you.”

The resident said they heard six or seven gunshots about five minutes later.

None of those witnesses testified at Friday’s hearing.

A detective testified Wright was armed with a kitchen knife that was concealed in her bra at the time of the shooting.

Prosecutors did not establish a relationship between Wright and Frederick during the hearing, but police said Frederick recently had been ordered to pay child support to Wright.

Police did not say when the child support was ordered by the court, but noted he was required to make monthly payments to her of $635 plus almost $2,200 in back payments.

A 5-year-old boy was in Wright’s apartment when she was killed. A friend of Wright’s who lives in the apartment building cared for the child until family members could be contacted to take custody.

Before the judge’s ruling was handed down, Wymard called for the charge against Frederick to be dismissed.

“We’ve heard a lot of stuff, and there are pieces here and there, but very little meat,” he said. “There is no ID of my client, no license plate and they don’t know how many people were in the car, who was driving it or who did the shooting. There are no prints, no DNA and no gunshot residue.

“No motive was offered,” Wymard said. “There’s some smoke, that’s all. You just can’t speculate. We don’t have anything to say it was him.”

Despite Wymard’s objections to much of the evidence and testimony that was presented, the judge said there was sufficient reason to proceed with a trial.

“I agree that this is not a for sure,” she said. “But they’ve presented enough pieces for this to go to court.”