Justin Vellucci stories, Page 2
Black hat found at crime scene leads to arrest in McKeesport slaying
DNA from a black hat found last year near a shooting scene in McKeesport led to an arrest Wednesday in the slaying of a man in his car. Allegheny County Police charged Daemond Artemus, 18, of McKeesport in the May 2, 2024, slaying of Brandon Dean. Artemus was taken to...
‘Rain of gunshots’: Trial begins in slaying of Pittsburgh woman, daughter, 4
A trial began Wednesday for two men charged with killing an East Hills woman and her 4-year-old daughter outside a Pittsburgh convenience store in what a prosecutor called a “rain of gunshots.” Tarrell Jennings, 21, of Wilmerding and Marquise St. Julien-Givner, 23, of Wilkinsburg face homicide and other charges in...
Fayette County borough mayor, 82, charged with DUI in hit-and-run
The 82-year-old mayor of a small Fayette County town had a blood-alcohol level nearly twice the legal limit on Election Night when he crashed his car into a woman driving her sons to a sporting event, then fled the scene, Pennsylvania State Police said. Perryopolis Mayor Charles Petrosky, locally known...
‘College GameDay’ sets stage in Pittsburgh as Panthers prepare to face the Fighting Irish
It’s official: ESPN’s “College GameDay” has arrived in the Steel City. Crew members from one of the sports network’s marquee shows flew into Pittsburgh Monday to lay the groundwork for this weekend’s televised football matchup between Pitt and Notre Dame, ESPN spokeswoman Amanda Brooks told TribLive. The crew quickly started...
Fender-bender leaves vehicle hanging out of UPMC parking garage
A fender-bender in a Pittsburgh parking garage Tuesday pushed one car through a concrete barrier, leaving the vehicle hanging over the sidewalk several stories below. A driver rear-ended a parked vehicle in a UPMC parking garage on Aiken Avenue in the city’s Shadyside neighborhood, a UPMC spokesperson told TribLive. That...
VFW post hosts Veterans Day ceremony after chilly parade in Lower Burrell
Snow flurried and the temperature lingered around the freezing mark at 11 a.m. Tuesday but that didn’t stop veterans, first responders, local residents and students from marching down Leechburg Road in Lower Burrell’s annual Veterans Day Parade. A brief Veterans Day ceremony, complete with rifle salute from a seven-man honor...
Inmate identified who died at Allegheny County Jail during ‘medical emergency’
An incarcerated person who died Monday at the Allegheny County Jail has been identified. Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office report released Wednesday evening lists the deceased as Nathan Piernik, 38, of Glenshaw. The cause and manner of his death was not listed. He died after housing-unit staff called a medical...
Arbitrators wield nearly unchecked power to return disgraced police to duty
Keith Edmonds zapped an unarmed homeless man so many times with his Pittsburgh police-issued Taser that the city paid an $8 million court settlement after the man died. Aaron Fetty, another Pittsburgh police officer, was accused of sexually assaulting a co-worker while off duty. Philadelphia police Lt. Marc Hayes texted...
Police capture McKees Rocks fugitive accused of punching pregnant ex-girlfriend in stomach
Authorities Friday arrested a McKees Rocks fugitive charged with holding his ex-girlfriend captive for two days this summer — all while repeatedly punching her in the stomach after he learned another man had impregnated her, investigators said. Detectives took Justin Daugherty, 24, into custody at a Stowe residence on two...
Grieving for Little Q: Son of ‘The Mole’ contestant killed in Wilkinsburg
Quaylyn “Q” Carter grew up amid poverty and crime in North Braddock, the youngest son of a hard-working single mother. He graduated from Woodland Hills High School, then earned a criminal justice degree at Seton Hill University. After working for a sheriff in North Carolina, he returned to Pittsburgh, helped...
3 held for trial in attack, sexual assault on fellow Allegheny County Jail inmate
Three men incarcerated at the Allegheny County Jail — two of them accused killers — are facing trial on charges they beat up and sexually assaulted a fourth inmate inside his cell in September while hunting for drugs. Jayshon Martin, 21; Damon Peters, 22; and Jewel Woods, 28; all of...
Pittsburgh SWAT responds to midday shooting in Hill District
Pittsburgh police’s SWAT team was called Wednesday afternoon to the city’s Hill District neighborhood after a midday shooting in a public housing development. A woman was shot in the leg in the 2500 block of Bedford Avenue, near the Bedford Dwellings complex, police said online. First responders said she was...
Monroeville man, 21, found shot dead in car
A man found dead Tuesday morning inside a vehicle in Wilkinsburg had been shot multiple times, Allegheny County Police said. Wilkinsburg police said they found the man after they were dispatched to the 1600 block of Penn Avenue around 7:35 a.m. The man was pronounced dead at the scene at...
Police rescue trafficked Louisiana runaway, 13, from North Side basement
A phone call about a missing teen near Baton Rouge, La., led an investigation involving authorities in three states to the basement of a Pittsburgh home last week, where the 13-year-old runaway was found hidden in a sheet-covered box. Police on Friday arrested Ki-Shawn Crumity, 26, of the city’s Brighton...
Man to stand trial on charges he torched McKeesport home over $200 drug debt
A man set fire to a McKeesport home in September after a couple who had lived there failed to pay him $200 for heroin, police said. After a preliminary hearing Monday, Arthur Franklin, 32, now heads to Allegheny County Common Pleas Court for trial. Video footage showed Franklin walking toward...
Allegheny County sheriff’s race pits incumbent Kevin Kraus against challenger Brian Weismantle
Both candidates vying to be Allegheny County sheriff agree: the Nov. 4 election will be a referendum on incumbent Kevin Kraus. Kraus, a Democrat and retired Pittsburgh police officer, is seeking reelection to a second term. He touts his management experience in overseeing the $24 million, 177-deputy office as a...
Pittsburgh man arrested with $300K in luxury watches was wanted for playground shooting
A fugitive wanted for a September shooting at a Pittsburgh playground was arrested more than 200 miles away — with $300,000 worth of counterfeit watches in a rental car’s trunk, authorities said. A Pennsylvania State Police trooper said he arrested Kaheem Sturdivant, 24, of Pittsburgh’s Troy Hill neighborhood around 2:30...
‘He’s going to survive this’: Long road lies ahead for Acrisure Stadium fall victim
A friend of Keith Keller, the TV crewman who plunged at least 50 feet from Acrisure Stadium’s main scoreboard last weekend while prepping the Pittsburgh venue for a prime-time Sunday Night Football audience, said the Chicago-area man has a long road — and a lot of medical bills — ahead...
Penguins offer new details about plunge that critically injured fan at PPG Paints Arena
The Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday broke their silence and provided new details about a man’s 35-foot fall from the upper concourse of the arena during Monday night’s game, leaving him critically injured. The team and Oak View Group, the venue’s managing partner, “can confirm the patron was not using the...
Dizzying heights at venues like PPG Paints Arena unsettle upper-level spectators
For Pittsburgher Fabian Carrazana, going to a hockey game or concert means braving the vertigo-inducing pitch of PPG Paints Arena. “The upper bowl is terrifying,” Carrazana said Wednesday, two days after witnessing a man at a Pittsburgh Penguins game suffer life-threatening injuries after falling from the venue’s upper level. “It’s...
Officials release few details on man’s ‘life-threatening’ fall at PPG Paints Arena
Officials remained largely tight-lipped Tuesday after a spectator at a Pittsburgh Penguins game suffered life-threatening injuries after falling an estimated 35 feet from the upper concourse inside PPG Paints Arena a day earlier. Around 7:15 p.m. Monday, a man fell from the 200 level of the stands during a Penguins...
Pittsburgh detective becomes 1st Black woman to join city police bureau’s mounted unit
Pittsburgh police Detective Dorothea Leftwich didn’t plan out her newest assignment. Leftwich, a mother of three known by many as “Dea,” patrolled neighborhoods and worked stints with narcotics and burglary units after joining Pittsburgh’s force in 2007. For the past 12 years, she’s been working full-time in the bureau’s Office...
Inside Tony Moreno’s quest to become Pittsburgh’s 1st GOP mayor in nearly a century
Maverick Republican Tony Moreno knows he probably won’t be Pittsburgh’s next mayor. But the unconventional candidate, who faces Democrat Corey O’Connor on Nov. 4 at the ballot box, says he stresses what needs to be said. The retired Pittsburgh police officer first sought the city’s top elected post — unsuccessfully...
Argument leads to shooting in Point Breeze, school lockdown
A man was hospitalized Friday following a midday shooting that prompted a nearby school to go into lockdown. Police said officers were dispatched around 11:30 a.m. to the 200 block of East End Avenue in the city’s Point Breeze neighborhood. A call came in about an argument followed by gunshots....
Tip about Mt. Oliver killing led to arrest in Georgia with case now heading to trial
An anonymous tip this spring from a 412 “burner phone” helped detectives crack open a cold case: the Mt. Oliver home invasion that ended in the fatal shooting of Damon Lincoln. On Friday afternoon, the case took another step forward when a judge bound suspected gunman David Barlow, now 28,...
