Justin Vellucci stories, Page 35
Firefighters respond to Pittsburgh Airbnb where 2 were killed in shooting last year
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...
Dugan knocks off longtime incumbent Zappala in Democratic race for Allegheny County DA
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...
McKeesport man gets 20 to 40 years in connection with 2020 shooting
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,...
Larry Scirotto takes reins of Pittsburgh police with list of priorities
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...
3 hurt in North Braddock crash
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...
Bedford Dwellings death ruled a homicide
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...
Police investigate suspicious death of Mt. Lebanon man
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...
West Mifflin man get 15 to 35 years for beating mother to death, leaving her to die
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...
Pittsburgh woman charged in fentanyl death of her 7-month-old granddaughter
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...
5 injured in head-on crash involving car, Pittsburgh Regional Transit bus
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,...
Family of man who died after being tackled by Beaver County police officer settles wrongful death suit for $950K
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...
Highland Park residents call on Pittsburgh officials to close nearby police firing rangeVideo
A Highland Park community group called on Pittsburgh officials Tuesday to shut down the city police force’s nearby open-air firing range, calling the sound of gunfire emanating from the 40-year-old facility “a public health issue.” “We want (police) to get their training but it’s not a comforting sound — it’s...
No major incidents during marathon weekend in Pittsburgh, officials say
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...
Tarentum man receives probation for child-related incidents
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...
North Side man get 15 years in federal prison for Ross bank robbery
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...
West Mifflin man deemed fugitive more than a year ago arrested by sheriff’s detectives
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...
Pittsburgh man pleads guilty to 2019 birthday party murder in Homewood, gets 10 to 20 years
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...
Larry Scirotto nominated to become Pittsburgh’s next police chief
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...
Police seek woman for questioning about fatal McKeesport shooting
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...
Authorities arrest Pittsburgh fugitive accused of mocking police online for not being able to catch him
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...
Family of man who died after being shocked by Taser reaches $8M settlement with Pittsburgh
The family of a homeless man who died after being shocked with a Taser by Pittsburgh police at least 10 times in less than four minutes has reached an $8 million settlement with the City of Pittsburgh in its wrongful death lawsuit, an attorney said Thursday. Jim Rogers, 54, died...
Police: Woman used Washington County hair salon as prostitution base
Pennsylvania State Police say a Burgettstown woman was selling sex acts at a Washington County hair salon. Amy E. Zlobin, 51, was charged April 20 with prostitution, Trooper Rocco Gagliardi said Wednesday. In April, Hanover Township police said they received multiple complaints about possible prostitution happening at Embellish Hair Cuts,...
Court: Robinson Township did not use eminent domain appropriately
A lawyer representing Robinson Township maintained Wednesday that local officials had safety in mind when they seized part of a developer’s property by eminent domain to make improvements at a Steubenville Pike intersection. “It was a bad signalization from the beginning,” attorney John F. Cambest said of the intersection’s traffic...
Man who left neglected dogs in abandoned house sentenced to probation
A Penn Hills man was sentenced to two years of probation Tuesday for keeping seven pit bull-mix dogs in “deplorable” conditions both in and outside a vacant house in Pittsburgh, authorities said. Barr Jamil Tomlin, 51, pleaded guilty before Allegheny Common Pleas Judge Susan F. Evashavik DiLucente Tuesday on 14...
Pittsburgh man killed in Homewood shooting ID’d by medical examiner
The Allegheny County Medical Examiner has identified the Pittsburgh man killed in a shooting early Monday in Homewood. Jaylen J. Martin, 24, died at an area hospital at 4:25 a.m. Monday after being transported there in critical condition, police and the medical examiner said. He was found in the 7200...
