Mayor Gainey, police express frustration with judicial system in news conference

PITTSBURGH — At a news conference to announce the arrests of two suspects in a triple murder on the North Side, Mayor Ed Gainey and police expressed frustration with the judicial system.

RELATED >> 2 charged in fatal North Side triple shooting

“I’m not going to sit here and point fingers. I haven’t done it in the past because it doesn’t solve anything,” said Gainey.

Gainey said he’s not going to play the blame game; but he did react to a Target 11 Investigation that revealed that the two suspects charged in Friday’s funeral shooting in Brighton Heights had prior gun-related charges.

One of them, 19-year old Shawn Davis, had four previous cases involving firearms, including assaulting and attempting to shoot a clerk at a downtown Pittsburgh store two years ago.

Surveillance video obtained exclusively by Target 11 shows Davis attacking the clerk and wrestling with him for a short time. The clerk eventually pulls Davis to the ground, but then lets him go. On his way out the door, Davis stops, turns toward the clerk and pulls a gun. He attempts to fire the weapon at the clerk, but the gun jams. Davis tries to fix the gun, but it doesn’t work. He then takes off out the front door.

Police arrested Davis and charged him with aggravated assault.

Prosecutors with the Allegheny County district attorney’s office recommended a sentence of three to six years in state prison, based on Davis’ criminal history.

Sources told Target 11 that Davis was accused of two gun possession charges in 2018 and 2019. He was charged as a juvenile so it’s unclear what happened to him because those records are sealed.

He was also arrested and accused of opening fire at Ross Park Mall last year. No one was hit in the gunfire, but it caused chaos in the mall as shoppers ran for cover. Sources said the charges against Davis were dismissed after a judge ruled there were issues with positively identifying Davis as the shooter.

In the aggravated assault case involving the store clerk, Judge Tom Flaherty sentenced Davis to 10 to 23 months in the Allegheny County Jail after Davis agreed to a plea deal. Flaherty decided to give him credit for time already served, so he was released after serving only nine months.

Davis was given three years on probation and placed on house arrest. He would have been wearing a electronic monitor on the day of the funeral shooting last Friday. It’s unclear if he cut the monitor off or was still wearing it. The court administrator’s office declined to comment.

Flaherty also declined comment on the case and the sentence.

Target 11 also spoke with the store clerk, who expressed frustration with the amount of time it took to resolve the case and the sentence.

If you got someone who’s a repeat offender and he continues to get caught with guns, he does not need to be on our streets, period,” said Gainey.

At the news conference today, a police detective also expressed frustration. Police once again cited last year’s sudden closing of Allegheny County’s only juvenile detention center as a big problem.

“That’s presenting a problem where you have children, teenagers of that age that perpetrate crimes that are just walking right out. They understand they have no consequences at this time. There’s no fear,” said Detective Dave O’Neil of the Pittsburgh Police Bureau.

The county closed the Shuman Detention Center last fall after the state revoked its license due to repeated safety concerns.

The county now rents 16 beds at holding facilities in other counties. When those beds are full, police are forced to release juveniles on electronic house arrest.

It’s an issue that Target 11 has been reporting on for months.

There is a move by the county to lure a private company to reopen Shuman, but there’s been no deal signed yet.

Meanwhile, the mayor vowed to work with the judicial system to resolve any issues.

“What we need to do is work with other levels of the judicial system to assure that we are on one page and we are putting these violent criminals in jail,” said Gainey.

Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.

Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW

How are surrounding counties handling Election Day?

©2022 Cox Media Group