Barrage of weekend violence not a bellwether for the region, officials claim

The homicide rate in Allegheny County remains sharply lower than it has been in recent years.

By TOM DAVIDSON
TribLive

The first weekend in August was the most violent weekend of the summer in and around Pittsburgh thus far, a TribLive analysis found.

There were six separate shootings: four in Pittsburgh, one in Scott and one in Monroeville.

“Isolated incidents of violence are tragic, but do not define a neighborhood or city. Like many areas across the country, we face challenges, but we are meeting them head-on,” Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey said in a statement released Friday, after a shooting on Penn Avenue in the Downtown Cultural District rattled some who witnessed it.

Surveillance camera photos of a person of interest in the shooting, which left two people hurt, were released Sunday.

“The events that happened over the weekend were not connected, and while they are unfortunate, they do not represent an increase in violent crime in the city” said Pittsburgh Public Safety spokeswoman Cara Cruz.

The numbers bear that out. Through July 7, there have been 32 homicides in Allegheny County. During the same span there were 53 in 2024, 55 in 2023 and 64 in 2022.

In 2025, there has been one homicide in Westmoreland County: the April 11 killing of Jenna Seibert in Rostraver Township. There were four homicides in 2024 in Westmoreland County.

Since 2006, there have been four homicides in Westmoreland County in two other years — 2015 and 2023, according to coroner statistics. The highest total was 10 in 2014, according to coroner statistics.

The other shootings between Friday and Sunday included: • A Friday morning shooting in Homewood West.

• A fatal 3:30 a.m. Saturday shooting at a Lawrenceville gas station. Randell Antonio Tate, of Pittsburgh, was charged by Pittsburgh police with homicide and aggravated assault.

• A Saturday evening driveby shooting near Miracle Mile Shopping Center in Monroeville.

• A Sunday morning standoff in Scott involving two men.

Another shooting happened early Monday morning after a domestic incident in McKeesport.

Allegheny County police assist local departments who request it. The county is also the independent department that probes officer-involved shootings in Pittsburgh, spokesman Jim Madalinsky said.

“Across the board this year, numbers are down, which is what we’re hoping for,” Madalinsky said.

The weekend of Aug. 1 through 3 was the first with a shooting reported since July 4 through 6, where there was a shooting in Homestead and two separate cases in Swissvale.

There were also multiple shootings between June 20 and 22. The weekend included the mass shooting in Garland Park, East Liberty in which five people were shot and 10 were hurt in the melee. One 18-year-old was charged in the incident, but he has not been accused of firing a weapon during the shooting.

There were also weekend shootings June 13 in Duquesne and June 6 in Brighton Heights.

“There is no such thing as a minor shooting,” Cruz said. “All incidents of violence are taken very seriously by both Pittsburgh Police and the City of Pittsburgh.”