PITTSBURGH — According to Pittsburgh police, 18-year-old Shaun Scott is in jail, facing multiple charges in connection to two teens killed months apart: 18-year-old Maleek Thomas and 15-year-old Dayvon Vickers.
“He was a person of interest from the beginning,” said Richard Ford, commander of major crimes for the Pittsburgh Police Bureau.
Ford added that Thomas’s murder helped tie Scott to Vickers, “The arrest in the previous homicide allowed us the opportunity to investigate further other evidence that we were able to tie together.”
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Thomas was killed just two weeks ago on June 24. Police say Scott was throwing rocks at a window in the Hill district when Thomas approached him and asked who he was. Scott told police that he put on a mask, pulled out a gun and shot him.
Thomas’s aunt Stacey spoke with Channel 11 News.
“Maleek was smart, witty, mannerable,” she said. “The last time I talked to Maleek we were at the graduation, he was so so happy,” said Thomas’s aunt.
Thomas died at a hospital just six days after his high-school graduation from U-Prep.
On March 30, 15-year-old Dayvon Vickers was shot in the head and killed in Homewood while riding his bike.
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Community members remembered Dayvon fondly as the boy who sold water on the street.
“Everybody loved him we all used to see him out there we bought water from him so that was heartbreaking,” said Lee Davis, the supervisor for Cure Violence Pittsburgh.
Davis said teen violence is related to mental illness.
“You mix that with depression, anger, anxiety and poverty — this is what you see, so we have to come up with not just solutions, but we have to come up with the funding,” said Davis.
Davis hopes both the city and county will work together to aggressively address the issue now before more lives are lost.
“We want to see more outreach workers and violence interrupters out here. But until we put some real funding behind it, we are going to keep seeing what we are seeing,” said Davis.
Scott is charged with murder and multiple weapon violations. He is currently in Allegheny County Jail.
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