Homicides, violent crimes surging in Pittsburgh this year

Six people have been killed in 17 shootings throughout Pittsburgh since April 3, part of a surge of violent crime in the city this year, officials said Monday.

As of Monday, police have investigated 20 homicides and nearly 50 non-fatal shootings in 2021, according to numbers provided by the city’s Department of Public Safety.

The statistics represent an 80% increase in homicides and a 90% increase in shootings when compared to the same time last year.

It’s part of a national surge in violence, but “this is not Pittsburgh,” police Chief Scott Schubert said in a statement. Police responded to three shootings Sunday night and Monday morning that left one man dead and four others injured.

“The Pittsburgh Bureau of Police will not allow this senseless loss of life to continue. Our officers will work directly with the community to get to the root cause of these crimes and stop them from occurring,” Schubert said.

Specialized community resource and neighborhood resource officers have been walking through several neighborhoods to talk with people about finding ways to make the community safer.

The Group Violence Intervention team of police and social services workers also increased their workload.

“We encourage members of the public to come forward and share their ideas, concerns, and information with police. Police can only solve crimes when everyone works together. That cooperation and collaboration is key,” Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich said.

Here is a roundup of the violence in the city since last week:

• Man shot in the abdomen early Monday morning in a business in the 7900 block of Frankstown Avenue in East Hills.

• One man was killed and two others hurt in a shooting Sunday night in the 200 block of Moore Avenue in Knoxville. Police also are investigating a non-fatal shooting Sunday in the Hill District and the SWAT team was involved in a standoff in Greenfield after a man was shooting cans from the back of a house with an air rifle.

• On Saturday a man was shot in the leg in the 5100 block of Kincaid Street in Garfield.

• Two boys were shot, one of whom was killed Thursday in the 1300 block of Sorrell Street in Marshall-Shadeland. Also on Thursday, SWAT investigated a robbery in the 6400 block of Apple Street in Lincoln-Lemington.

• On Tuesday, a man was shot in the backside in the 1600 block of Brownsville Road in Carrick and a 15-year-old boy was killed in a shooting in Lincoln-Lemington. SWAT also arrested a man on South 19th Street in the South Side who was wanted by West Virginia authorities for making threats to schools and businesses in W.Va.

For a complete roundup of crimes city police are investigating, click here.

Anyone with information about the crimes can call police at (412) 323-7800.