An Ohio man was found not guilty of attempted homicide in connection with a March 2022 shooting in Pittsburgh’s Duquesne Heights neighborhood.
Neil A. Toalston, 28, of Alliance was found not guilty following a three-day jury trial last week in Judge Jennifer Satler’s Pittsburgh court.
Toalston and his girlfriend were taking photos at the Mt. Washington overlook around 3 a.m. March 2, 2022, when he got into an altercation with a passing pedestrian, according to a criminal complaint filed in the case.
Toalston told police that he made a comment to a man walking with his mother. The man became angry and started following Toalston and yelling at him, the complaint said. Toalston and his girlfriend told police the man began swinging a plastic bag as he walked toward Toalston.
Police said Toalston pulled out a 9 mm handgun and fired two warning shots into the ground. When the man continued to advance toward him, Toalston shot the man multiple times, the complaint said.
The shooting victim was taken to a hospital in critical condition but survived, according to Toalston’s attorney, Marc Daffner.
Police said security footage of the incident captured from the nearby Monterey Bay Fish Grotto restaurant did not appear to show the plastic bag referenced by Toalston and his girlfriend. Police charged Toalston with attempted homicide and aggravated assault.
Daffner said it was a clear case of self-defense.
“In any self-defense situation, the defendant has to have had a reasonable belief that he or she was in danger of serious bodily harm or death, and that force was necessary to prevent that from occurring for the use of force to be justified,” Daffner said.
“Unfortunately, in today’s society we can assume that if someone is being aggressive, chasing you and threatening you — especially after several warnings — that there is, in fact, that danger, especially if that person is a stranger and the incident was unprovoked,” Daffner added.
