PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — The family of a Knoxville man who was shot and killed while sitting on the front steps of his mother’s home is now pleading for help in solving the case.

According to investigators, 49-year-old Randy Lewicki was rushed to Mercy Hospital with a gunshot wound to the side following the Thursday night shooting in the 100-block of Jucunda Street.

He later died from his injuries.

Richard Lewicki was sitting in his living room on Thursday when he said he heard a loud popping noise.

He came outside and saw his brother, Randy, lying in the front yard of their home on Jucunda Street with a gunshot wound to the side.

“We got out here and seen his legs, and I said, ‘that’s Randy down there’ – that’s my brother, he was deaf – and just hear the moaning,” said Richard Lewicki.

“The bullet went in here and he was lying flat, like this, on his side,” added Ronald Lewicki, another of Randy’s brothers.

Police say Randy Lewicki was shot at close range while he sat in front of his mother’s house drinking a beer. He died about an hour later.

(Photo Courtesy: City of Pittsburgh Bureau of Police)

Richard and Ronald say they saw two males running down the street in their Knoxville neighborhood right after the shooting.

“I have no idea why somebody would shoot him right there, close range, and then with a rifle right there,” Richard said.

Nancy Lewicki has lots of pictures to help preserve the many fond memories of her son. She says he was born deaf, but never let it stop him from doing anything.

She says he was well liked in the neighborhood.

“Loved by everybody; he really was,” said Nancy Lewicki. “You could knock on probably any one of these doors and they knew him.”

While the family prepares for a funeral she wants to know why.

“If I could confront the person that did that, that’s all I want to know is why,” she added.

Police have released a description of one of the suspects. He is between 18- and 20-years-old, is about six-feet tall with a thin build and was wearing a white tee-shirt.

Anyone with information on the shooting is being asked to call the Pittsburgh Police Homicide Unit at 412-323-7161 or the Mayor’s 311 hotline.

RELATED LINKS:
Police Investigating Deadly Shooting In Knoxville (9/21/12)
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