PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Pittsburgh police say retaliation may have led to the shootings of four people in Knoxville and Beltzhoover.

“We’re waking up and still crying about last night and then we’re getting phone calls that other people [are] gone,” Eldrica Hudson, friend of one of the victims, said.

In a period of 24 hours, five black males were shot in South Hills neighborhoods – two fatally.

The most recent is 18-year-old Jason Daniels, Jr. He was shot behind the wheel of a car. A passenger was critically injured on Mathews Avenue in broad daylight. The engine was still running.

“To occur that early in the day with the weather being warm and people being out – I think a lot of the shootings are brazen,” Pittsburgh Police Sgt. Shirley Sloan said. “They know people won’t give up information. Victims won’t tell you who’s after them.”

Investigators say the shooting of 19-year-old Antwan Leake may have started it all. The rest could be retaliation.

A lot of the money the city and county used to use to quell street violence has dried up.

“Because of cuts to the county, I’m down about 15 staff,” Richard Garland of One Vision, One Life said. “Where we had bolstered up our program where we had more people in the streets, we don’t have that many people in the streets anymore.”

The organization says it still has presence in the community and they’re working with community groups in the South Hills.

RELATED LINKS
More Local News
Pittsburgh Bureau of Police