Justin Vellucci stories, Page 33
Judge fines Century III Mall owners more than $240K over conditions at West Mifflin site
A judge hit the owners of the shuttered Century III Mall with a hefty fine Wednesday in response to the dilapidated condition of West Mifflin’s once-mighty shopping center. During a brief hearing Wednesday, District Judge Richard D. Olasz Jr. fined Century III Mall Pa. LLC and Moonbeam Capital Investments just...
Few fireworks-related injuries, arrests reported in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh first responders treated 33 people who suffered mostly minor injuries in the Downtown area during the city’s annual fireworks celebration in Point State Park. The majority of those treated suffered injuries when someone “reportedly set off firecrackers during the official display, causing groups of people to run from the...
Family remembers 1-year-old killed in North Versailles as ‘bright, bubbly’
Arionna Porter liked to sing the catchy children’s song “Baby Shark,” often swinging her arms to imitate a shark’s chomping jaw. The 1-year-old girl from North Versailles had a gap between her still-new front teeth, which made her frequent smiles just a little bit goofier. And she loved her little...
1 dead, 1 injured in Parkway West crash
One person was killed in a two-car crash Wednesday morning on the Parkway West, state police said. The crash happened just after 7 a.m. when a westbound car went off the highway near Pittsburgh International Airport and crashed into a pickup parked on the shoulder, said Trooper Rocco Gagliardi. The...
Allegheny County overdose deaths dropped 5% last year, data show
Drug overdose deaths in Allegheny County dropped 5% last year compared to the year before, according to data released by the medical examiner’s officer. Overdoses killed 689 people in 2022, down from 719 in 2021, Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Karl Williams said. Deaths in 2020 also totaled 689, the county...
TSA says it stopped Ohio man from boarding plane in Pittsburgh with 9mm handgun
Transportation Security Administration officers at Pittsburgh International Airport stopped an Ohio man from bringing a loaded handgun onto a flight Friday, a record-setting day as travelers flew ahead of the Independence Day holiday. Officers at the Findlay-based airport detected the 9mm handgun in the Lima, Ohio, man’s carry-on backpack as...
Oakmont woman found guilty of 1st-degree murder in starvation death of 3-year-old stepdaughter
An Oakmont woman was found guilty Monday of first-degree murder in the starvation death of her partner’s child. Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Bruce R. Beemer also found Laura Ramriez, 31, guilty of aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of a child, unlawful restraint and conspiracy to commit homicide in connection...
2 dead in fire in Pittsburgh’s Beltzhoover
Two people died Monday morning after a two-alarm fire in Pittsburgh’s Beltzhoover neighborhood. Firefighters responded to a residential fire around 5:40 a.m. in the 400 block of Cedarhurst Street, Pittsburgh Public Safety said. The first crews arrived within four minutes to find “an active fire with possible entrapment,” officials said....
Fleeing suspect fatally shot by state trooper after chase in Indiana County
A Pennsylvania State Police trooper shot and killed a Center Township man following a miles-long car chase through Indiana County Sunday night, state police said in a press statement. At about 11:55 p.m., police said the trooper initiated a traffic stop near Yankeetown and Lockard avenues in Center Township, Indiana...
1 hospitalized after vehicle slams into Beltzhoover house
One person was hospitalized early Monday after Pittsburgh police said a vehicle they were pursuing crashed into a house in Beltzhoover. Police from Zone 3 said they tried to pull over a car around 3 a.m. but the driver of the car refused to stop. The driver of the car...
Officer-involved shooting leaves 1 person dead in Ligonier Township
A Ligonier Valley police officer shot and killed an unidentified man Sunday at a township residence, authorities said. Police responded to a Gravel Hill Road home about 3:50 p.m., which led to the shooting, Westmoreland County District Attorney Nicole W. Ziccarelli said in a news release. She did not elaborate...
McKeesport homicide-by-car accusations headed to Allegheny County Court
A Pittsburgh man is headed to court on charges he repeatedly attacked a McKeesport woman with his car, killing her in front of a member of her family. Brandon K. Pendleton, 31, of the city’s Sheraden neighborhood, waived his preliminary hearing Friday morning, court records show. District Judge Kim Berkeley...
Munhall funeral home director accused of leaving corpse to decompose headed to Allegheny County Court
An area funeral director is headed to trial for leaving a dead man’s body unrefrigerated for more than a week after the man’s family argued about funeral home fees. District Judge Patrick D. Campbell sent the case of Michael Aldrich, 75, of West Mifflin, to Allegheny County Court following a...
Pittsburgh man sentenced to prison for DUI crash that injured 3 women on South Side
An Allegheny County judge sentenced a Pittsburgh man to 1 to 7 years in prison in connection with a 2021 drunken driving crash on Pittsburgh’s South Side in which three injured women had to be cut from a vehicle. In addition to being sentenced on a DUI charge, Andre Perkins,...
Opinions in Jewish community differ on seeking death penalty for Pittsburgh synagogue shooter
Robert Bowers murdered Donna Coufal’s friend. But she doesn’t want him to be executed for it. “I hope that, whatever happens in (Bowers’) trial, people find peace,” said Coufal, 69, a member of Congregation Dor Hadash who lives in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill. “And I hope no other jury would have...
Pittsburgh woman guilty of involuntary manslaughter in stabbing death of husband
An Allegheny County Common Pleas judge found a Brighton Heights woman guilty but mentally ill on Monday for fatally stabbing her husband in December 2020 and wrapping his corpse in garbage bags and duct tape. Janet L. Winbush, 53, a North Side resident who grew up in Grove City, Mercer...
Former Highmark Health employee accused of draining thousands from health savings accounts
Authorities are seeking a former Highmark Health employee in South Carolina who they say used her job with the health care giant to withdraw or attempt to withdraw nearly $90,000 from eight victims’ health savings accounts. Zakayah A. Scott, 23, of Columbia, S.C., has been charged with nine counts of...
Carnegie Mellon professor reflects on 2022 Titanic trip on same sub that imploded
Alex Waibel fiddled with his computer and a headset-mounted microphone that transcribed his every word. And he waited. And waited. Around 8 a.m. July 14, 2022, the Carnegie Mellon University professor boarded OceanGate’s Titan submersible — the same one that would implode deep below the surface of the north Atlantic...
2nd suspect arrested in 2021 Pitcairn shooting death, police say there are 2 more
Police have arrested a second suspect in the 2021 fatal shooting of a young man in Pitcairn — and they’re looking for two more people they say are also responsible for his death. Finel Javon Thompson, 21, of Wall, was charged Friday with criminal homicide, tampering with evidence, recklessly endangering...
Shadyside stabbing suspect’s bond revoked, judge orders him back to jail
A district judge on Thursday revoked a Shadyside man’s bond and ordered him back to Allegheny County Jail after the district attorney’s office said he presented a threat to the community. Jasper Jacob Hilliard, 21, faces charges including attempted homicide in connection with the stabbing of a 72-year-old man on...
Pittsburgh woman says she stabbed husband in self-defense, doesn’t recall wrapping body in garbage bags
An attorney for Janet L. Winbush said the woman with a long and well-documented history of mental illness fatally stabbed her husband in self-defense in December 2020 after years of domestic abuse. Prosecutors argue that Winbush had planned to kill Deric Bryan Davis, 53, and then, after she did, she...
Officials ID man pulled from Allegheny River
The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office on Tuesday identified the man whose body was pulled out of the Allegheny River as Charles Palermo. Palermo, 67, whose hometown is unknown, was pulled from the river near Washington’s Landing in Troy Hill on Monday morning. He was pronounced dead at 7:07 a.m.,...
Tarentum man, a fugitive since 2020, arrested
A Tarentum man who has been a fugitive since 2020 was arrested Tuesday by Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office deputies, Sheriff Kevin M. Kraus said. Jeffrey Shutak, 53, was charged in July 2019 after police responded to a domestic disturbance at his home, Kraus said. Shutak faced charges of endangering the...
Synagogue attack verdict brings out range of emotions in Pittsburgh Jewish community
David Knoll sat in his Squirrel Hill home Friday morning, waiting for the news to break. He wanted confirmation of what he already knew: Robert Bowers committed hate crimes against Jews when he killed 11 congregants inside the Tree of Life synagogue on Oct. 27, 2018. Then, at 11:52 a.m.,...
Split verdict reached in case against Homewood man in connection with police shootout
A jury reached a split verdict Monday on charges against a Hazelwood man who engaged in a shootout with Pittsburgh police in May 2022. Jurors found Michael Tyrone Waller, 36, not guilty of attempted homicide, assault on a law enforcement officer and aggravated assault of two Pittsburgh police officers, Allegheny...
