New Kensington teen on trial accused of Vandergrift park shooting, robbery attempt

A New Kensington teenager is on trial in Westmoreland County charged with the robbery and shooting of a marijuana dealer at a Vandergrift park in November 2019.

Police contend Ryleik Arbuckle was just 15 when he shot 20-year-old Dale McNutt in the buttocks as he ran out of Franklin Park after he was pistol whipped and robbed during the aborted drug deal.

Arbuckle, now 17, of New Kensington is being prosecuted as an adult on charges of aggravated assault, attempted robbery and other offenses in connection with the Nov. 5, 2019 incident.

“The penalty for selling weed in Vandergrift that night is not as severe as what Dale McNutt got that night,” said Assistant District Attorney Anthony Iannamorelli in his opening statement to the jury.

McNutt testified he served as a middle man who sold marijuana to make some money after he lost his job. He was contacted by a teenage girl through social media to sell her the marijuana.

He said a meeting was arranged at Franklin Park. When he arrived, he was met by the girl and man he didn’t know who demanded money. He testified that the man pulled a gun and hit him over the head with it.

McNutt said he then turned around and tried to briskly walk out of the park when he was shot in the rear right buttocks. One shot went through his cell phone in his back pocket and exited through his upper thigh.

“I thought today is the day I might wind up dead,” McNutt testified.

In court on Thursday he identified Arbuckle as the man who pistol-whipped him in the park but said he that since was fleeing he did not see who fired two shots at him.

Arbuckle is being held in custody at the juvenile unit at the Allegheny County Jail in Pittsburgh, and has maintained his innocence.

Defense attorney Adam Gorzelsky told jurors that prosecutors can’t prove who shot McNutt and that the then-16-year-old girl who accompanied Arbuckle to the drug deal could not identify him as the shooter.

Tametria Shirey, now 18, testified she met Arbuckle online just days before the incident and they agreed to met up at the park to buy marijuana. She told jurors she didn’t know Arbuckle had a gun. She said she left the park after he pulled the weapon and did not hear any gunshots.

“She couldn’t see who the individual was who shot Mr. McNutt, but it wasn’t my client,” Gorzelsky told jurors.

The prosecution will continue to present evidence when the trial resumes Friday before Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio.