Video, audio of foot chase, shooting of New Kensington officer played during murder trial

Brian Shaw, a wounded New Kensington police officer, called out for help moments after being shot three times in an alley where he chased a man believed to have run from a sports utility vehicle following a traffic stop.

“I’ve been shot. I’ve been shot,” Shaw said into his radio as he lay at the opening of a dark alley near Leishman Avenue. “I am on Leishman, over here.”

A Westmoreland County jury on Monday saw a brief glimpse of the foot chase and heard Shaw narrate the events that led to his death during the first day in the first-degree murder trial of the man prosecutors claim killed the officer shortly before 8 p.m. on Nov. 17, 2017.

Rahmael Sal Holt, 31, of Harrison faces a potential death sentence if convicted of the murder. Prosecutors contend Holt was a passenger in the vehicle that Shaw attempted to pull over for failing to yield at an intersection.

Holt was armed, feared a potential arrest and fled, District Attorney John Peck said during a 35-minute opening statement to jurors. As Shaw chased and closed the distance between the two men, Peck said, Holt turned and fired at least six times from a .40-caliber handgun. Three rounds struck Shaw.

“He valued his escape more than he valued the life of another person. He was willing to trade Officer Shaw’s life in exchange for his freedom,” Peck said.

Jurors watched a video, synced with audio from Westmoreland County’s 911 dispatch center, of the reports Shaw made as he followed an SUV then chased on foot the male passenger who ran.

As the two disappeared into the darkness on the video, several bright muzzle flashes can be seen, along with the sound of several gunshots.

One bullet hit Shaw in his upper left shoulder area, and another pierced the lower left side of his chest. A third struck the back of his bulletproof vest.

Officers raced to Shaw’s location. New Kensington Patrolman James Noble was the first on the scene, arriving about 30 seconds after Shaw called out that he had been shot.

“I saw Officer Shaw fall to his knees as I ran to that location. Initially, he had fallen onto his stomach and he was unable to speak,” Noble testified. “He wasn’t able to talk, but he was moaning.”

Noble and other officers who quickly arrived started resuscitation attempts as Shaw lost consciousnesses.

It briefly appeared to be working, Patrolman Matthew Saxman testified. He said Shaw opened his eyes, took a breath and attempted to sit up before he fell back into unconsciousness.

Detective James Horwatt told jurors Shaw seemed to respond as officers called out his name.

“He looked at us and knew we were there,” Horwatt testified.

Shaw’s service weapon remained holstered and appeared not to have been fired, officers testified.

The man who police said shot him fled the scene.

Evidence quickly surfaced, however, that pointed investigators to Holt. A cellphone linked to Holt through his girlfriend was found in grass about 100 yards from the scene. The driver of the vehicle Shaw attempted to stop identified Holt as the armed man who fled.

Peck told jurors Holt ran to a friend’s home in New Kensington and, over the next several days, was driven to locations in Plum, Penn Hills, Duquesne and eventually to the Pittsburgh area, where he was captured four days later.

“The defendant never came forward. He ran and he ran and he ran until finally the police stopped him and apprehended him,” Peck said.

Holt was not the shooter, defense attorney Tim Dawson told jurors.

As he addressed jurors for about 20 minutes, Dawson asked the courtroom filled with Shaw’s family members, friends and dozens of police officers from New Kensington and neighboring towns, to observe a moment of silence for what he called a “tragedy.”

Officers who knew and worked with Brian Shaw, including Frazer police Chief Terry Kuhns, are here to support Shaw’s family and wearing these pins. pic.twitter.com/rM164eNqK6

— Brian Rittmeyer (@BCRittmeyer) November 4, 2019

Dawson told jurors that many of the prosecution witnesses are not to be believed and that the grainy video from a home security camera located across the street from the shooting only shows what appears to be a police officer chasing what appears to be an African-American man.

“You can’t identify the shooter,” Dawson said. “Mr. Holt has maintained since Day 1 his innocence.”

Police never recovered the murder weapon, and there are no eyewitnesses to the shooting, Dawson told jurors.

He questioned the motives of the prosecution’s key witness, the man police said drove the SUV in which Holt was a passenger following a trip to McKeesport to buy marijuana for Holt.

“What does he have to gain?” Dawson asked. “He has separate charges, and is he protecting somebody else? We don’t know how many occupants were in that car at the time of this incident.”

Common Pleas Court Judge Rita Hathaway at several points Monday warned jurors not to discuss the case and told the large gallery of spectators to refrain from speaking about testimony in areas where jurors could be present.

The judge dismissed one juror after lunch. The juror had been singled out by other jurors for discussing the morning’s court proceedings, court sources said.