A Tarentum teen wanted in connection with multiple shooting incidents was taken into custody this week by Pittsburgh police.
Marcell Fields, 18, was charged with attempted criminal homicide, aggravated assault, criminal conspiracy, reckless endangering and multiple weapons charges. City and Pittsburgh Regional Transit police said Fields took part in shootings Oct. 25 on Frankstown Avenue, and Oct. 26 at the Wilkinsburg Park and Ride bus station.
Through victim interviews, closed-circuit and surveillance camera footage, police were able to obtain clear photos of four males present at the bus-station shooting. Two were identified by a county juvenile probation officer as a 13-year-old who has an active arrest warrant out on him, and Fields, whose court paperwork lists as living in Tarentum.
Cellphone records from accounts belonging to the 13-year-old and another known associate of Fields — Shaquan Wheeler, 18, of Pittsburgh — showed the three teens , sometimes posing with guns , in numerous images, according to a sworn affidavit. Metadata from the phones indicated some of the photos had been taken at an address on Chateau Lane in Murrysville. The 13-year-old had an active electronic home monitor which police said was pinging at the Chateau Lane address over a four-day period starting Oct. 26.
Fliers seeking information on the shooting drew the attention of city police, who were investigating a non-fatal shooting from Oct. 25 in Homewood. Police noticed that the suspect in the flier bore a strong resemblance to a suspect in surveillance video they’d reviewed after a shooting on the 7000 block of Frankstown Avenue.
Shell casings recovered from both crime scenes were determined to have come from the same 9 mm Luger, which was also linked to a third non-fatal shooting that took place Oct. 30 in the city’s Stanton Heights neighborhood.
In late October, Wheeler was arrested on drug charges, and city police obtained a warrant for his phone in connection with the Stanton Heights shooting.
On it, they found photos of Fields, including a photo where he was wearing the same clothes and holding the same gun allegedly used in the Frankstown Avenue shooting, according to court documents.
In cooperation with the U.S. Marshal Service, city police took Fields into custody Feb. 16.
An attorney listed in court records for Fields could not be immediately reached for comment.
A preliminary hearing on charges in both cases will take place Feb. 25 in Pittsburgh Municipal Court.
