Police arrest teen girl in connection to fatal shooting of Pittsburgh man

Police arrested a 17-year-old Brighton Heights girl on Tuesday in connection with the robbery-related death of a Pittsburgh man, officials said.

Shayla Johnson — who also has ties to McKeesport and Duquesne — is a suspect in the murder of Julian Carpenter.

She was arrested in Homewood and booked into the Allegheny County Jail, Pittsburgh public safety spokesman Chris Togneri said.

Carpenter, 24, was shot during a July 2 robbery at an apartment on Rhine Street in Pittsburgh’s Spring Hill neighborhood. Police allege that Johnson was a friend of Carpenter who lured him there.

Johnson initially was charged with criminal conspiracy and criminal use of a phone, court records show.

Officials have since tacked on homicide charges.

Carpenter died at a hospital on Nov. 4, nearly four months after the shooting.

Pittsburgh police have said they believe that Carpenter was shot by Onaje Dickinson, 20, of Pittsburgh.

Dickinson was killed two weeks later in Penn Hills by a police officer investigating a similar robbery, records show.

Carpenter apparently thought he was meeting Johnson, whom police described as a friend, but was instead robbed and shot, court records show.

The gun used to shoot Carpenter matched the gun found in Penn Hills in the July 14 officer-involved shooting death of Dickinson.

Dickinson was shot and killed by Penn Hills police Officer Jared Rothert, who returned fire after Dickinson fired three shots while hiding in a basement, police said.

Police were searching for Dickinson because they suspected he was tied to another robbery.

Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. found Rothert acted properly when he used his weapon. Dickinson used similar tactics in several robberies since May, Zappala said.

Officials asked anyone with information about the Spring Hill case to call Pittsburgh detectives at 412-323-7800.