Pittsburgh police exploring possible case of mistaken identity after man shot to death in North Side

PITTSBURGH — Growing up, Shayne and Aaron Strader were inseparable as brothers; they were born just a year apart.

“It’s always been Shayne and Aaron. It’s always been that way. That’s what I miss the most,” Aaron Strader told Channel 11′s Gabriella DeLuca.

It was all cut short on May 5, when Shayne was ambushed outside of The National Aviary and Allegheny Traditional Academy on the North side.

He was shot several times and died. It happened just before 7 p.m.

“They’re cowards. They decided to take a cowardly action with pure ignorance and no heart or compassion,” Aaron added.

Aaron told Channel 11 that Shayne was there to get a pair of shoes from his girlfriend, who was working as a custodian at Allegheny Traditional Academy.

“This could have been anybody. Anybody in that car at the time, outside of a school, down the street from the aviary, around the corner from the children’s museum, the business district,” Aaron said.

The Strader family believes it was a case of mistaken identity, and Pittsburgh police say they are exploring that.

“My first initial reaction was anger, and why would this happen, who would do this to my brother? But when I found out that it’s possibly a mistaken identity, it crushed me. It crushed me,” Aaron added.

The search is on for the people who are responsible for Shayne’s death. As for his family, they want the public to remember him as a man who didn’t deserve this.

“I don’t want the people in Pittsburgh, the public, to think he was involved in any type of criminal activity. He wasn’t. I want them to know this was a good man. ... a good man who was murdered for no reason.”

Shayne was also a father to two young girls.

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