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Accused Cop-Killer Appears In Court, Attorneys Claim There Was 3rd Person In Vehicle

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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - The man accused of killing a New Kensington police officer was in court Monday morning for a pre-trial hearing.

Today, officials revealed some new details about who else may have been in the car the night of the shooting.

Rahmael Holt is accused of shooting and killing Officer Brian Shaw following a traffic stop in November.

Holt was arrested after a manhunt that lasted for several days.

Rahmael Holt pretrial hearing
(Photo Credit: KDKA)

As Holt entered courthouse on Monday KDKA-TV's Meghan Schiller asked, "Are you guilty or innocent?"

Holt ignored the question and kept his head down.

Now, officials are looking into the possibility that a third person was in the car that night.

"We asked for body cam video, we think there is body cam video. We think there's surveillance video. They have some kind of tape and we have nothing so far," attorney Tim Dawson

Defense attorneys Dawson and James Robinson say they have yet to see the state's evidence in the case against Holt.

"Our client claims not to be the shooter so if you have evidence, that obviously affects the direction we go on the case," Dawson said.

The attorneys released new information Monday afternoon about a possible third person of interest in the case.

"There was another person in the car, he was not driving. There's a third person we have learned I think from McKeesport. We need to discover that, too. So, there were three different people," Dawson said.

Holt says he didn't shoot Officer Shaw. So, who did? The attorneys don't know.

Holt's attorneys say Tavon Harper failed to pull over when Officer Shaw attempted a traffic stop. Police later arrested Harper.

Holt was also in the vehicle and was arrested after lengthy manhunt.

Now attorneys say a third black male currently not facing charges may have been involved.

That's why attorneys say they need video to hopefully show who pulled or didn't pull the trigger.

"The shooting took place on a public street. There's businesses, there's residences and we have nothing at this point. We don't have police reports, we don't have an autopsy report," Dawson said.

The state will now work to gather all the evidence in this case and the attorneys will meet again before the judge in August.

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