Justin Vellucci stories, Page 24
Police kill knife-wielding Upper St. Clair man suffering mental health crisis
Officers from three South Hills police departments opened fire on an Upper St. Clair man having a mental health crisis late Sunday, killing him after he approached them outside his home with a knife, according to Allegheny County Police officials and court records. The man was identified in court records...
Records reveal gun arrests for suspect in Monroeville police shooting
The man accused of shooting a Monroeville police sergeant after robbing a cookie shop Wednesday night is a convicted criminal with a history of arrests on gun charges dating back nearly a decade. Jamal Brooks, who is charged with wounding the sergeant while spraying his marked police car with 16...
Monroeville police sergeant’s car sprayed with bullets; officer struck 3 times
The armed robbery suspect who sprayed a Monroeville police sergeant with gunfire Wednesday night has been identified as 32-year-old Jamal Brooks. Brooks has been charged with striking the officer three times as he sat inside his marked car, according to a criminal complaint. The sergeant — who was not identified...
Pitcairn man sentenced to at least 8 years in prison for attacking elderly neighbor with hammer
A Pitcairn man faces eight to 16 years in prison for beating his 71-year-old neighbor with a hammer last summer. Commons Pleas Judge Beth A. Lazzara imposed the sentence on William Alan Jackson, 43, on Thursday for the Aug. 10 attack, court records show. Jackson had negotiated a guilty plea...
McKeesport man going to prison for driving drunk, hitting PennDOT worker in construction zone
A McKeesport man is headed to prison for up to seven years for drinking an alcoholic slushee and smoking marijuana in his car shortly before he struck a PennDOT worker in a construction zone and dragged her 30 feet on the city’s Jerome Street Bridge. Common Pleas Judge Kelly Bigley...
North Hills horse-riding community mourns decorated teen killed in Christmas weekend crash
At 18, Taylor Orlowski stood just 5 feet tall and weighed no more than 98 pounds, her sandy blonde hair falling on petite shoulders. Those who survive her in the tight-knit horse-riding community of Pittsburgh’s North Hills, however, remember the Beaver County teen as a giant in their extended family....
Suspect named in shooting of Monroeville police sergeant
The armed robbery suspect who sprayed a Monroeville police sergeant with gunfire Wednesday night has been identified as 32-year-old Jamal Brooks. Brooks has been charged with striking the officer three times as he sat inside his marked car, according to a criminal complaint. The sergeant — who was not identified...
New Year’s Eve celebration on North Side ends with fight, fatal stabbing
A small New Year’s Eve gathering in Pittsburgh ended in tragedy late Sunday when a North Side man fatally stabbed his roommate during a fight that escalated after several hours of drinking, authorities said. The victim, Luis Soto, 35, was identified Wednesday by the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office. Martin...
1-year-old Wall girl nearly died ingesting ‘tranq’; 9 months later, police arrest her father
A convicted drug dealer was arraigned Tuesday on charges that he nearly killed his 1-year-old daughter last spring when the girl ingested “tranq,” a powerful sedative mixed with fentanyl that authorities said he was using in her Wall home. Jeffrey Lee Carter, 36, of Clairton was visiting the mother of...
Pittsburgh homicides plunged in 2023, mirroring drops in Allegheny County, nation
It was an ominous start to 2023: Gunmen murdered police officers in Brackenridge and McKeesport during the first six weeks. While the two high-profile shootings heralded a lawless and violent year ahead, Allegheny County and Pittsburgh actually saw a drop in homicides, reflecting similar decreases across the country. And as...
Medical examiner IDs man found fatally shot on porch of his Carrick home
The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office has identified the man found fatally shot New Year’s Eve on the porch of his Carrick home. The medical examiner’s office identified the victim Wednesday as Lonnell Newkirk, 44. Pittsburgh police said Newkirk was found shot in the chest on his front porch in...
‘Life is not promised’: Family and friends mourn loss of Richland teen in car crash
In June, Ellie Tourney had to bury her husband. Now, she has to bury her son. “We were proven twice that life is not promised. We’ve learned that twice in seven months,” Tourney said Wednesday. “If God wants you, he’s going to wrap you in his arms. It’s hard to...
2nd teen identified in fatal McCandless crash
A second teenager killed after a speeding car with six passengers crashed in McCandless early Saturday was identified Tuesday afternoon. Jonathan Tourney, 14, of Gibsonia, died after being flown to an area hospital at 4:32 a.m. Saturday, just an hour after the crash occurred at the intersection of Babcock Boulevard...
McMurray man caught with gun at Pittsburgh airport
A Washington County man’s loaded handgun was confiscated on Christmas Day by Transportation Security Administration officers at Pittsburgh International Airport, authorities said. The McMurray resident, whose name was not released, attempted to bring the .380-caliber handgun with his carry-on items through TSA security at the Findlay airport, TSA spokeswoman Lisa...
Police say Pittsburgh man stabbed girlfriend 5 times after argument
Allegheny County Police said a Pittsburgh man who stabbed his girlfriend at least five times following an argument in Carnegie late Friday night was taken into custody Tuesday morning. Joshua Michael Meyer, 41, of Pittsburgh’s Elliott neighborhood went to his partner’s Carnegie residence and got into a verbal argument with...
Volunteers, staff at Pitt serve 2,800 hot meals to those in need at annual Christmas event
Cyril Lucas doesn’t tend to cook family feasts on Christmas morning. The retired Air Force veteran, who grew up in Braddock and McKeesport, has no children, and none of his relatives live in the Pittsburgh area. But Lucas wasn’t among an estimated 19 million Americans who spent Christmas alone Monday....
U.S. Steel sale will create new jobs, spark investment in Mon Valley, analyst says
John C. Tumazos thinks unions and Pennsylvania politicians have gotten the U.S. Steel sale all wrong. The Wilkinsburg-bred metals industry analyst said Nippon Steel’s $14.9 billion acquisition of the Pittsburgh-based steel icon will not trigger mass layoffs in Southwestern Pennsylvania or encourage the new owners to idle mills. Instead, the...
U.S. Steel workers in Western Pa. unsure what Nippon deal means for local mills, their future
Third-generation steelworker Don Jackson said he’s seen how mill owners weathering an economic downturn can cripple a city. In Pittsburgh in 1984, a year after Jackson graduated from high school, J&L Steel shuttered the 140-year-old South Side mill that sat just a mile from Jackson’s Arlington home. At its peak,...
Christmas-delivery shipping deadlines are fast approaching
People are running out of time to have gifts shipped in time for Christmas, with at least one deadline arriving as early as this weekend. Saturday is the last day you can have something shipped by the U.S. Postal Service in time for the holiday. The Postal Service’s first-class or...
Christmas-delivery shipping deadlines are fast approaching
People are running out of time to have gifts shipped in time for Christmas, with at least one deadline arriving as early as this weekend. Saturday is the last day you can have something shipped by the U.S. Postal Service in time for the holiday. The Postal Service’s first-class or...
Gainey, Pittsburgh firefighters hand out free winter coats to students
Every day of the week, fifth-grader Jaiden Harper walks a few blocks to get to classes at Helen S. Faison Arts Academy in Homewood. This year, the late-autumn cold hasn’t been so bad. Jaiden still took his time Friday morning to pick out the right winter coat. One was small,...
Pittsburgh police set to realign next year amid union concerns about staffing
Pittsburgh police are working to realign the shrinking 770-officer force in the new year, but union leaders warn that the bureau shouldn’t reorganize in the midst of a staffing crisis. In 2024, Chief Larry Scirotto said he plans to launch a street crime team, hire a dozen young adults as...
Man shot at Arby’s in Downtown Pittsburgh
A man was injured Thursday afternoon during a shooting in a fast-food restaurant Downtown. Pittsburgh police responded to an Arby’s in the 800 block of Liberty Avenue around 3 p.m. after shots were fired inside the restaurant, spokeswoman Cara Cruz said. A total of 15 rounds were fired. Two men...
DA to prosecute crash that killed Serra Catholic student as ‘murder case’
An Irwin man accused of racing another motorist in Dravosburg in September was speeding at 107 mph seconds before he crashed into a Serra Catholic school van, killing a 15-year-old student and hospitalizing four other people, authorities said Thursday. The second driver also was speeding and fled the scene, authorities...
Beaver County police officer charged in 2022 death of bystander at shooting scene
A Beaver County police officer accused of assaulting a man who later died is facing an involuntary manslaughter charge, according to the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office. A grand jury recommended charging former Center police officer John J. Hawk, 37, with involuntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, simple assault, reckless endangerment and perjury....
