Justin Vellucci stories, Page 14
Police charge homeless man with breaking South Side woman’s back, pelvis in rape attempt
Pittsburgh police on Monday charged a homeless man they say broke a woman’s back and pelvis by shoving her to the ground while trying to rape her two months ago in the city’s South Side neighborhood. William Hercules, 27, pushed the woman, who uses a walker, to the ground around...
Man pleads guilty in New Year’s Eve stabbing death on North Side
A Pittsburgh man Monday pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter for fatally stabbing his roommate after a New Year’s Eve drinking session escalated into a fight. Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Thomas Flaherty sentenced Martin Lopez Hernandez, 33, of East Allegheny, to time already served in the Allegheny County Jail —...
Montour Trail stabbing victim was Pa. Liquor Control Enforcement agent
A 44-year-old man found fatally stabbed Monday afternoon along the Montour Trail in Moon was a liquor control enforcement agent with the Pennsylvania State Police. Benjamin Brallier of Coraopolis was pronounced dead at Heritage Valley Sewickley hospital just before 4 p.m. Brallier, who had stab wounds to his back, upper...
Trial opens for man charged with gunning down North Hills honors student
A Pittsburgh man whose homicide trial opened Monday killed a restaurant’s teenage cook just 15 minutes after being thrown out of the Strip District establishment, a prosecutor told jurors. Howard Hawkins, 49, was kicked out of Preeti’s Pitt on Penn Avenue in the Strip District at 8:55 p.m. on Feb....
Jury finds 2 guilty of first-degree murder in 2021 Larimer slaying
A jury Monday found two men guilty of first-degree murder in a 2021 homicide at a Pittsburgh gas station. Michael James and Randall Jones are each facing a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the chance of parole for the killing of Robert Agurs. Allegheny County Judge Edward J....
Judge won’t bar death penalty in Pittsburgh triple killing trial
Lawyers for a man accused of a Pittsburgh triple killing have failed to convince a judge that the death penalty should be off the table because of what they say is their client’s intellectual disability. “This case is going to trial — my position did not change,” Allegheny County Common...
Woman dies in Homewood stabbing
A woman was stabbed to death early Monday in Homewood, Pittsburgh police said. Officers were dispatched to the 6800 block of Lyric Street about 5 a.m. for reports of a stabbing. Police said they found a woman stabbed in the chest. Officers rendered aid but the woman died at the...
Driver hospitalized after crash at Lernerville Speedway
A driver Sunday was flown via helicopter to an area hospital after an on-track accident at Butler County’s Lernerville Speedway. Authorities have not released the man’s name or extent of his injuries. Emergency crews were dispatched to the Buffalo Township race track at 2:37 p.m., a Butler County 911 dispatcher...
Trump, Walz scheduled to visit Western Pa. this week as candidates criss-cross battleground states
The Democratic Party’s nominee for vice president is set to visit Pittsburgh on Tuesday — his sixth trip to Pennsylvania as politicians court voters in a swing state some pundits say will tip the scales on who wins the 2024 presidential race. Vice presidential hopeful Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz will...
1 dead, 1 injured in Scottdale house fire
A 71-year-old man was killed Saturday afternoon in a residential fire in Scottdale, authorities said. Westmoreland County Coroner Tim Carson identified the victim as Thomas Zeller. A cause and manner of death have not been reported. Firefighters and first responders were dispatched to a home at 918 Market St., where...
Natrona group celebrates community in park, focuses on the future
Over Bill Godfrey’s right shoulder, crumbling brick row houses line Penn Street, their former tenants all workers who toiled for Natrona’s storied Penn Salt Manufacturing Co. Over his left shoulder, on Federal Street, stood an evenly spaced queue of wooden, one-story cottages built in the 1850s — where Penn Salt...
Pa. AG charges 7, dismantles Pittsburgh-based retail theft, gun-trafficking ring
Authorities Friday accused a Pittsburgh pawn shop owner of running a retail theft and gun-trafficking ring that bought and resold stolen items including iPhones, electronics and lawnmowers. The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office charged Osman Musa and six other people identified as members of a group dubbed the “Six Figure Boys”...
Man, 82, faces trial for exposing himself to kids outside Sewickley ice cream shop
An 82-year-old man facing trial on charges that he exposed himself to children outside a Sewickley ice cream shop was previously sentenced to probation on indecent exposure charges in two separate incidents, court records show. Allegheny County Police last month charged David Whitten of Franklin Park with corruption of minors,...
Upper St. Clair mom wins battle for names of cops who fatally shot her son
For months, Susan Shepherd fought to learn the names of the police officers who fatally shot her mentally ill son in Upper St. Clair so she could sue them. But Baldwin Borough, Bethel Park and Brentwood refused to tell her who pulled the trigger on Jan. 7 when members of...
‘Unity we all need’: Jews, allies commemorate 1-year mark of Hamas attacks
Michal Alon’s voice shook just once Monday evening as she described how she found herself, a year ago, in a military base with a terrorist. The nurse and mother was tending to a wounded Israeli watchtower guard in Zikim, a base that sits about a half-mile from Israel’s border with...
‘I’ve never prayed as much’: The world changed on Oct. 7, and so did Rona Kaufman
When Hamas militants blitzed Israel one year ago today, Rona Kaufman immediately feared for her daughter, Naomi Kitchen. Kitchen had traded Pittsburgh for Israel in 2021. Now, as a 21-year-old soldier in Israel’s military, she was 6,000 miles from home, helping repel an armed incursion against a base in the...
‘41,000 Ahmeds’: Gaza’s death toll ripples through the Pittsburgh region
One June morning, near 4 a.m. Pittsburgh time, Ahmed Arafat got a text from his sister in Palestine’s Gaza Strip. It was 11 a.m. there. Israeli tanks were approaching Nuseirat, a refugee camp near where her family was sheltered. “I’m going to die,” she texted Arafat. “Please take care of...
Man fatally shot multiple times in Homewood
A man was killed Friday night after being shot multiple times in Homewood, authorities said. Pittsburgh police said they responded to the 7400 block of Race Street in the East End neighborhood about 9:30 p.m after receiving a 12-round alert from the ShotSpotter gunshot detection system. They found a man...
Vendors, crowd of hundreds closes farmers market season in Lower Burrell
For Victoria Krzywda, the Lower Burrell Farmers Market comes down to the hot sauce. On Saturday, the Leechburg resident perused 3 Shiba Farm’s myriad Mason jars and glass bottles of freshly brined pickles, peppers and relishes — not to mention the spiciest hot sauce Krzywda could find: the Arnold business’...
Police arrest 2 in brutal beating of man in Downtown Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh police have arrested two teens in connection with a vicious beating of a man by about eight people in the heart of Downtown Pittsburgh on Tuesday night. Police said the incident, which occurred about 9 p.m. at the intersection of Liberty Avenue and Stanwix Street and was filmed by...
Allegheny County Executive backs Jewish students at Pitt in wake of recent antisemitic incidents
Allegheny County’s top elected official on Wednesday told Jewish students rattled by a recent spate of antisemitic acts at and near University of Pittsburgh’s campus that she will work to ensure they feel safe in Oakland. County Executive Sara Innamorato met for 45 minutes with Jewish community leaders and interacted...
Police, FBI probe reported antisemitic attack on Jewish Pitt student
The FBI and Pittsburgh police are investigating an off-campus attack early Friday on a Jewish student at the University of Pittsburgh by a group of six to eight men who used antisemitic language, authorities said. Pitt confirmed Friday evening that the victim, who suffered a bruised lip and was not...
Police seek other alleged victims of teen charged with sexual crimes in Frick Park
Pittsburgh police are investigating whether a teen charged with sex crimes against two women in Frick Park might have other alleged victims. Police arrested Isaiah Rivers, 19, of Penn Hills on Sunday and charged him with sexually assaulting one woman and exposing himself to another. A search of Rivers’ cell...
Pittsburgh-area officials testify that communications problems plagued them during Trump rally shooting
As a congressional task force hearing Thursday dissected the security breakdowns that plagued Donald Trump’s July rally in Butler County, one member worried about the future. “We have (former) President Donald Trump going back to Butler in the next few days,” said U.S. Rep. Lou Correa, a California Democrat. “Are...
‘Michael did it’: Police say parents blame son for severely beating them in Crafton home
A Crafton man beat his parents so severely that he caused brain bleeds and broke one of their skulls before waiting with bloody hands and clothing to be arrested in the backyard of the home they all shared, police said. Two victims were rushed in critical condition to UPMC Mercy...
