Justin Vellucci stories, Page 21
Police charge Rivers Casino dealer, supervisor in alleged electronic roulette scheme
A veteran electronic roulette dealer at Pittsburgh’s Rivers Casino and her supervisor have been arrested in what police said was a scheme to rig betting on the game of chance that cost the North Shore casino thousands of dollars. Pennsylvania State Police and the casino started investigating after receiving an...
Pittsburgh police make arrest in Allentown triple shooting that killed 1 man
Pittsburgh police have made an arrest in a triple shooting earlier this month that left one man dead in the city’s Allentown neighborhood. Quincey Gurske, 20, of Mt. Washington was taken into custody Monday morning for the fatal shooting March 3 of Marquese Freeman, also 20 and from Pittsburgh, authorities...
NAACP calls for federal investigation into Jim Rogers death
The NAACP is calling for a federal investigation into the 2021 death of an unarmed Black man following an encounter with a Pittsburgh police officer who repeatedly shocked him with a Taser. The national civil rights organization told the U.S. Department of Justice in a letter that a “thorough investigation”...
3 Pittsburgh high school students hospitalized after eating ‘unknown edible candy’
Three Pittsburgh Public Schools high school students have been released from the hospital after they fell ill when eating an “unknown edible candy,” authorities said Wednesday. A group of five students on Tuesday ingested the “unknown substance” but only three were taken to the hospital, school district spokeswoman Ebony Pugh...
Duquesne man charged in connection with sex crimes
A Duquesne man remained in jail Tuesday after, police said, he raped a 10-year-old girl he knew and forced her to perform sex acts on another boy. Quavon McMillan, 20, was charged Feb. 1 with rape, two counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, and one count each of unlawful contact...
Former Manor cop facing criminal charges was fired last month, borough mayor confirms
A former Manor police officer whose preliminary hearing on burglary and other charges was postponed Monday was fired last month in light of his criminal case and other alleged infractions, according to the Westmoreland County borough’s mayor. Justin R. Hall, 39, of Washington Township, Westmoreland County, was terminated at Manor’s...
Police charge Richland driver, 18, in fatal McCandless crash that killed 2 teens
Six teens piled into an SUV after a late-night hike in North Park, driver Aiden Saber behind the wheel of his mom’s Land Rover. It was late December, and they all had been drinking beer, police said. Saber pulled out of the park and “punched” the gas, according to a...
Guard punched inmate in Allegheny County Jail cell, police say
An Allegheny County Jail guard has lost his job and been charged after he punched an inmate multiple times, authorities said. Robert Veith, 49, of Plum, was conducting window cell checks Jan. 3 when the incident occurred, Allegheny County Police spokesman Jim Madalinsky said Monday. Surveillance video showed Veith talking...
Police release more images of alleged Oakland rape suspect
Pittsburgh police on Friday released its second set of images of a suspect they believe raped a woman in Oakland on Sunday. The suspect, who is seen in black clothing in the photographs, is described as possibly in his 30s, 5-foot-7 and about 150 pounds. He was wearing a black...
Tarentum man facing sex assault charges arrested in another rape case
A Tarentum man awaiting trial on 2023 charges that he sexually assaulted a 6-year-old girl has been charged in an unrelated rape case. Allegheny County Police on Wednesday said Brian Lee Jefferies, 27, of Roup Street repeatedly raped and sexually assaulted a girl when she was between 10 and 13...
Stowe teen charged with shooting at undercover police officers
A teenager remained in jail Wednesday after being charged with shooting at two police officers doing an undercover drug investigation in Stowe a day earlier. Delvonte Woodson, 17, of Stowe was charged as an adult Tuesday with two counts each of attempted homicide, aggravated assault and assault of a police...
Authorities ID West End Bridge fatal crash victim
The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the motorist killed Saturday in a three-vehicle crash on the West End Bridge as Eonna Devonna Lea Page, 25, of Pittsburgh. City police, firefighters and EMS were dispatched to the bridge, which connect Pittsburgh’s West End with its North Side neighborhoods, at 2:35...
Police release footage of suspect in reported Oakland rape
Pittsburgh police on Tuesday released video footage of a suspect they believe raped a woman in Oakland on Sunday — and they’re seeking the public’s help to identify him. The suspect, who is seen in black clothing in the surveillance footage, is described as possibly in his 30s, 5-foot-7 and...
‘Such a gift:’ Bishop Zubik leads special Sunday Mass at Plum retirement community
At first glance, the Mass that Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh Bishop David Zubik led Sunday morning at a Plum-based retirement community followed a familiar pattern. Worshippers, seated in a ballroom in pastel-green chairs about 12 rows deep, read from the Old and New Testaments. After Zubik offered a prayer for...
Police seeking public’s help finding suspect after a man shot in Coraopolis
A man was critically injured Saturday afternoon after being shot in Coraopolis, authorities said. The man, who Allegheny County Police did not name, was shot in the 900 block of Pennsylvania Avenue at about noon, spokesman James Madalinsky said. He was taken to a local hospital in critical but stable...
Laptop fire diverts Pittsburgh-bound flight
A laptop fire on Friday afternoon diverted a Pittsburgh-bound Breeze Airways flight from Los Angeles to Albuquerque, N.M., according to the Federal Aviation Authority. Breeze Airways Flight 555 — an Airbus A220-300 plane carrying 88 passengers — landed safely at Albuquerque International Sunport at about 3:30 p.m. Mountain time on...
1 man charged, another dead in Marshall-Shadeland bar shooting
A Swissvale man, still hospitalized Wednesday with at least one gunshot wound to his chest, is charged in a fatal shooting outside a North Side bar. Akil Raheem Tennyson, 31, was thrown out of the 703 Social Club in Pittsburgh’s Marshall-Shadeland neighborhood at about 2 a.m. Saturday because he was...
Snapchat bomb hoaxes prompt early dismissal for 2,000 Woodland Hills, Gateway high school students
Bomb threats delivered through social media — both of them false alarms — prompted educators Wednesday to evacuate more than 2,000 students from Woodland Hills and Gateway high schools. The schools received the anonymous threats on Snapchat. Just before noon, Woodland Hills Superintendent Daniel Castagna dismissed the Churchill-based regional high...
Ross police, state investigate how woman, 82, ended up dead outside personal care home
Ross police and the state Department of Human Services are investigating how an 82-year-old personal care home resident ended up dead outside the facility. Nancy Lee Tyler’s body was found around 11 a.m. Sunday in the 900 block of Forest Avenue near Mt. Assisi Place, a personal care facility on...
Police arrest 2nd suspect in 2023 Stowe shootout with undercover police
Police have arrested a Pittsburgh man in connection with a 2023 shootout in Stowe involving undercover police. He is the second suspect charged in the violent encounter in which dozens of shots were fired but no one was hit. Bruce Harvard, 24, of South Side Slopes, was one of the...
Allegheny County hits U.S. Steel with $1.9M fine over Clairton Coke Works emissions
Allegheny County officials Monday hit North America’s largest coke-manufacturing facility — which is also the county’s top source of air pollution — with a $1.9 million fine for uncontrolled emissions. It’s the third-largest penalty levied against U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works in the past five years. The fines stem from...
Data prompts Pittsburgh police chief to empty stations of overnight desk officers
No one will be manning Pittsburgh’s police precincts overnight any longer under policy changes announced Friday by Chief Larry Scirotto for the 743-officer force. The changes, which have already begun, affect all six zone stations across the city and the new Downtown substation from 3 a.m. to 7 a.m., seven...
Former Pittsburgh police commander charged with spying on officers, recording conversations
A former Pittsburgh police zone commander is charged with spying multiple times on several of his officers, secretly recording up to 75 hours of their conversations. Matthew Lackner, 50, of Mt. Lebanon, was charged Friday by Allegheny County Police with four counts of illegal use of wired or oral communications,...
Baldwin-bred professional jazz guitarist stokes flames of family’s ‘musical royalty’
Shawn Purcell doesn’t remember the precise moment he decided to become a professional musician. He does know that it was during spring 1989, his senior year at Baldwin High School. Purcell had been accepted to the University of Ohio and planned to major in business and pre-law. Then, a switch...
Allegheny County Police charge Monroeville man with criminal homicide in shooting mother of their child
Allegheny County Police have arrested a Monroeville man on charges that he fatally shot the mother of their child in a Baldwin Borough apartment earlier this month. Adelin Itongwa, 22, is being charged with criminal homicide and endangering the welfare of a child in the death of Ramiah Griffin, county...
