Justin Vellucci stories, Page 27

Indiana Township firefighter Mike Klier had a message Saturday morning for 4-year-old Gia Chanampa as he handed her a yellow, plastic firefighters helmet from his firetruck. “You’ve gotta drink your milk and eat your vegetables if you want to be a firefighter,” said Klier, 59, a Shaler resident who responds...

A man described as a “success story” for working his way out of homelessness was found stabbed to death Friday morning near a homeless encampment in Pittsburgh’s North Side. Michael Dodson, 30, of Allison Park, was found around 6:45 a.m. in a wooded area near an encampment off Route 28,...

A Pittsburgh man is accused of shooting two men after an argument late last month outside a Strip District bar. Jaquan Steadman, 24, faces charges including two counts each of attempted homicide and reckless endangerment and four counts of aggravated assault, online court records show. Pittsburgh police said they responded...

Larry Scirotto, Pittsburgh’s acting police chief, said Thursday during a four-hour interview with City Council that his officers should follow a ban on minor traffic stops. City Council voted in late 2021 to ban police from pulling over drivers for minor infractions such as having a burned-out brake light or...

A 65-year-old man was killed in a head-on crash Tuesday afternoon in North Versailles, according to authorities. North Versailles police said the two-vehicle crash happened around 3:15 p.m. on East Pittsburgh-McKeesport Boulevard near Braddock Avenue. A 19-year-old man driving an SUV with a 16-year-old female passenger crossed the median and...

Firefighters on Wednesday morning responded to a North Side house where two teens were killed and eight people were injured in an Easter morning shooting last year. Around 10 a.m., smoke was coming from the roof of the home at Suismon Street and Madison Avenue in East Allegheny. By 11:30...

Allegheny County Chief Public Defender Matt Dugan knocked off longtime District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. in Tuesday night’s Democratic primary race for DA, unofficial tallies showed. But it might not be the last time the candidates face each other. With nearly 168,000 votes tallied and 98% of precincts reporting...

A McKeesport man was sentenced Tuesday to 20 to 40 years in prison in connection with a March 2020 shooting that left a person paralyzed from the waist down, but his attorney said he likely will appeal the case to Superior Court. A jury in February found Jamont Neal, 32,...

The man in line to become Pittsburgh’s next police chief will be tasked with improving more than just public safety. Observers say Larry Scirotto also will need to improve discipline, morale, diversity and training within the Pittsburgh police department, while boosting recruitment and community relations outside of it. “You have...

Three people were hospitalized Monday afternoon after a head-on crash in North Braddock. The two vehicles involved crashed near Lincoln Highway and Electric Avenue around 12:20 p.m., Allegheny County Police said. Three people were taken to area hospitals in stable condition, police said. Police did not identify them. Police are...

The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office has ruled the Jan. 27 death of a woman in Pittsburgh’s Bedford Dwellings as a homicide. Markeyta Daniels, 24, of the North Side, was found unresponsive in a residence in the 2200 block of Somers Drive around 1 a.m. and later pronounced dead, the...

Allegheny County police said they are investigating a suspicious death in Mt. Lebanon. At 2:58 p.m. Saturday, Mt. Lebanon Police responded to the 200 block of Academy Avenue for reports of a dead man whose body had been discovered by a family member. Police said they found trauma to the...

A West Mifflin man was sentenced Thursday to 15 to 35 years in prison for violently beating his 80-year-old mother and leaving her to die in their basement in 2019. Kenneth Burdick, 45, pleaded guilty but mentally ill to third-degree murder in the death of Dolores Burdick. Heath Leff, a...

Allegheny County police charged a second person in connection with the fatal fentanyl poisoning of a 7-month-old Penn Hills infant — the girl’s grandmother. Barbara Ann Dunlap-Toombs, 66, of Larimer, turned herself in to sheriff’s deputies on Wednesday. She is charged with involuntary manslaughter, endangering the welfare of children and...

At least five people were injured when a man drove his car head-on into a Pittsburgh Regional Transit bus Wednesday morning on the North Side, according to the transit agency. The driver hit the inbound 8 Perrysville bus around 10 a.m. near Cedar Avenue and Suismon Street in East Allegheny,...

The sister of a Beaver County man who died in November after being tackled by a Center Township police officer has settled with the officer and the township for $950,000. Deborah Little agreed Thursday to the nearly $1 million settlement, 40% of which was attributed to the wrongful death of...

There were “no major safety or security incidents” during a busy May weekend in Pittsburgh, which included the Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon, three Pittsburgh Pirates games, and Cinco de Mayo celebrations, Pittsburgh public safety officials said Monday. The Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, Pittsburgh Bureau of EMS, and Pittsburgh Bureau...

An Allegheny County judge sentenced a Tarentum man to five years of probation for incidents involving a child over a period of years. Craig Lombardi, 40, pleaded guilty Tuesday to three charges related to the assaults — corruption of minors, endangering the welfare of children and simple assault — in...

A man from Pittsburgh’s North Side was sentenced this week to 15 years in federal prison for his role in a 2016 armed bank robbery in Ross. Albert Clemons, then 64, robbed a First Niagara Bank in the 4800 block of McKnight Road on March 2, 2016, and then led...

A West Mifflin man wanted on firearms and assault charges was arrested Thursday, according to the Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office. Malik Banks, 25, was deemed a fugitive in April 2022 after he failed to appear in court on a firearms charge, Sheriff Kevin M. Kraus said. Pittsburgh police also charged...

A Pittsburgh man who pleaded guilty Thursday to killing another city man at a Homewood birthday party in 2019 was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison. Geron Anderson, 28, of Pittsburgh’s Sheraden neighborhood, pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and a firearms charge in connection with the death of...

Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey has nominated Larry Scirotto to be the city’s next police chief. The nomination, announced Wednesday to a large crowd gathered at the City-County Building in Downtown, needs City Council approval to become official. “Every candidate we interviewed was great, (but) Larry rose to the top. His...

Allegheny County Police said they are looking for a woman whose apartment was the scene of a homicide Monday. Police said Lindsey Jackson, 37, may own or rent the apartment in the 600 block of McKeesport’s Evans Avenue where a man was shot around 9 p.m. Police said they would...

A Pittsburgh man accused of taunting authorities while on the run for the past 45 days was arrested late Monday morning, according to Allegheny County Sheriff Kevin M. Kraus. Kwaun Elliot, 24, was deemed a fugitive March 14 after authorities said he used a fourth-floor fire escape window to flee...