Justin Vellucci stories, Page 15
South Side brawl breaks leg of Pittsburgh cop in charge of district’s anti-crime effortsVideo
The Pittsburgh police sergeant who heads an anti-crime patrol in the South Side’s entertainment district suffered a gruesome leg injury early Saturday during a chaotic confrontation with a violent crowd outside a bar that led to one arrest. Surveillance video shows a surging group of people scuffling along a sidewalk...
Lawsuit accuses Pittsburgh cops of ‘abandoning’ drunk woman killed by driver on West End Bridge
The estate of a Homestead woman fatally struck by a vehicle that knocked her off Pittsburgh’s West End Bridge in January is suing Pittsburgh police, three of its officers and a city bar for what the complaint claims are their roles in her death. The seven-count civil rights lawsuit, filed...
Ex-Pittsburgher pleads guilty to swindling investors out of $2M in green energy scheme
A former Pittsburgher admitted Wednesday in court to using a sham energy company to bilk victims out of more than $2 million he and his colleagues used to gamble, pay court-ordered fines and buy jewelry, boats, furniture and wedding gifts. Jonathan Freeze, 65, pleaded guilty in federal court in Pittsburgh...
Authorities make fentanyl bust in Carrick after someone shoots at DEA agent’s car
A Pittsburgh man remained in custody Tuesday after authorities found more than 150 bricks of fentanyl, two guns and bundles of cash in his Carrick home, according to court documents. Authorities charged Drew Gordon, 22, with fentanyl distribution. Investigators searched Gordon’s house on Valera Avenue last week after an undercover...
Small roof fire breaks out at AHN Jefferson Hospital
A small “construction-related” fire broke out late Tuesday morning on the roof of AHN Jefferson Hospital in Jefferson Hills, according to a hospital spokeswoman. No one was hurt. The fire, which was reported at 11:20 a.m., caused some smoke to enter the upper floors of the hospital through the building’s...
Religious leaders swap stories, talk grant funding during house of worship security forum
Three religious leaders — bonded only by acts of violence — took to a North Braddock church pulpit Thursday night to share how they’ve shepherded their congregations past being defined by those who attacked them. The Rev. Glenn Germany knew the space best. Just three months ago, the McKeesport man...
Pittsburgh woman identified as person found dead in Monongahela River near Sandcastle
The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office has identified the woman whose body was found Thursday afternoon in the Monongahela River. The medical examiner’s office identified the woman as Latasha Jefferson, 36, of Pittsburgh. The medical examiner’s release did not list a cause or manner of the woman’s death. Pittsburgh police...
Authorities investigating if delayed report of sexual relationship in McKeesport schools is criminal
The Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office is reviewing whether McKeesport School District employees failed to alert state authorities to an alleged sexual relationship between a district employee and a teenage student or delayed reporting their suspicions and, if so, whether their actions were criminal. Allegheny County Police in January charged...
Good Samaritan’s gesture ends in hail of bullets, long road to recovery
On Aug. 7, Paul Werder, described by his wife as an inveterate good Samaritan, approached a homeless man who appeared hurt along a road on Pittsburgh’s North Side. They stood about 2 feet apart. “Are you okay?” Werder, 73, asked. “Can I help you?” The answer came through the crack...
Pittsburgh police sergeant resigns amid charges of phantom work while moonlighting at Target
A Pittsburgh police sergeant facing criminal charges related to his moonlighting resigned this week, a day before his first scheduled appearance in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court. Brian M. Marckisotto, 36, of Peters, is facing trial on charges that he misused a city computer program that schedules police officers for...
Pittsburghers’ English tutoring helps them connect with immigrants settling in region
When Eliane Totti’s stomach ached in her native Brazil, she’d take pineapple, collard greens, lemon and ginger from the homeopathic shop she ran four hours north of Sao Paulo and whip up a juice. The businesswoman learned more about American healthcare after immigrating to Mt. Lebanon two years ago. She’s...
Pittsburgher Henry Ellenbogen wielded pen, paper to save Jews in 1930s. Now you can read how.
In May 1938, Henry Ellenbogen, a prominent Pittsburgher, received a letter from a Jewish garment cutter in New York City’s Bronx borough. The man needed Ellenbogen’s help cutting through government red tape so he could bring his brother and mother to America from their native Austria. “I hope to God...
Pittsburgh man headed to court for March car crash that killed 1, injured 5
A Pittsburgh man who, authorities say, was intoxicated when he sped through a red light near the West End Bridge and triggered a three-car crash that killed a passenger and injured five more is set to have his day in court. Pittsburgh police arrested Russell William Page, 28, of Mt....
Fighting an ‘American problem’: Clairton mom, Steelers quarterback, Pittsburgh’s mayor unite against gun violence
Tina Ford drew inspiration from tragedy. On April 26, 2019, her 23-year-old son, Armani, was gunned down in their Clairton hometown. He had been a star quarterback who led Clairton High School’s football team through a 63-game winning streak and four straight state championships. In the five years that followed,...
Sheriff’s deputies take custody of man charged in 2023 police shootout
A Pittsburgh ex-con charged in connection with a 2023 shootout with undercover officers was taken into custody on Wednesday after two months on the lam. Police said they found “multiple items” that connected Jarrell Saunders, 39, of the Hill District, and two other men with a Feb. 27, 2023 shootout...
Labor board files for injunction seeking to end lengthy Post-Gazette strike
The National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday asked for an injunction to force the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette to take back striking workers and return to the bargaining table in a nearly two-year strike that union leaders say is the longest in the city’s history. The petition for injunction in federal court...
Plunge, scoop, repeat: ‘Industrial-strength’ cleanup of Pittsburgh’s rivers yields stinky, silty treasure
The demolition claw — its dirt-brown metal fingers guided by an excavator’s gray 50-foot-long arm — plunged Tuesday afternoon into the cloudy, brownish-green surface of the Allegheny River in search of discarded pieces of Pittsburgh. Chained to a rusty-bottomed 32-by-120 foot barge, the excavator sent its arm diving over and...
50,000 pounds of car parts and 1 Beetle later, dredging improves Allegheny River
The ghosts of cars from the 1960s and earlier haunt the confluence of the Pittsburgh’s three rivers. Parts from up to 100 vehicles — many believed to be from a long-defunct Downtown parking lot — are submerged in the Allegheny River, according to Captain Evan Clark of Three Rivers Waterkeeper,...
Authorities ID woman killed in 3-vehicle North Hills crash
The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office on Friday identified the woman killed this week in a three-car crash in Pittsburgh’s North Hills as Patricia Everetts, 76, of Butler. The accident occurred when a motorist driving south Thursday on Route 8, also known as William Flynn Highway, stopped to turn left...
Dormont crash victim identified as mother of 2
Authorities on Friday ruled the death of a woman killed earlier this week in a crash in Dormont as accidental. Ashlynn E. Gonzalez, 25, was killed in the two-vehicle crash near the intersection of West Liberty and Key avenues shortly after 1 p.m. on Sunday, authorities said. Gonzalez was pronounced...
Eagles’ nest on Pittsburgh hillside destroyed by storms
The bald eagles nesting on a wooded Monongahela River hillside for more than a decade need to rebuild. Thunderstorms Tuesday packing wind gusts more than 35 mph destroyed the eagles’ nest deep in Pittsburgh’s Hays neighborhood. The collapsed nest was at least the fourth one that the eagles had built...
Police seek videos from Ohio Township parking lot that might offer clues in fatal shooting
The Pittsburgh teen who was shot in a North Hills parking lot last week and died a short distance away “was targeted,” Allegheny County Police said Friday. Jordan Nathan Ross Geiger, 18, was shot once in the torso in a Giant Eagle parking lot in the 100 block of Ohio...
Doorbell camera captures fatal shooting in Mount Oliver
The Mount Oliver home’s doorbell camera caught it all. A young man approached 122 Amanda Ave. after noon Saturday, a gun magazine sticking out from the right pocket of his shorts. An older man opened the door, then took a few steps back. “Don’t ever in your life touch...
ShotSpotter comes under fire as Pittsburgh expands gunshot detection system
Over the past decade, Pittsburgh has sunk nearly $10 million into ShotSpotter, the most widely used gunshot-detection system in America. The controversial crime-fighting technology uses sound to quickly pinpoint gunfire, allowing police to be rapidly deployed to crime scenes. Its makers claim it can help reduce gun violence and save...
Feds indict 19 in ‘large-scale’ drug ring linking Western Pa., Detroit
Authorities have busted a “large-scale” drug-trafficking network that had been using “trap houses” to shuttle fentanyl and other street drugs between Detroit and Western Pennsylvania since last summer, federal prosecutors announced this week. An indictment unsealed Thursday in Pittsburgh charged 19 suspects — 10 of them from New Castle —...
