Teen dead after being shot in Downtown Pittsburgh; another teen facing charges

PITTSBURGH — A teen is dead after being shot in the chest in Downtown Pittsburgh overnight.

A Pittsburgh Public Safety spokesperson said officers responded to Penn Avenue at 7th Street around 12:15 a.m. for the reported shooting.

Officers arrived on scene to find an unconscious 17-year-old boy on the sidewalk, shot in the chest.

Medics rushed him to an area hospital in critical condition, but he died shortly after arrival.

The spokesperson said an individual was detained for questioning, though no one had been arrested at that time.

Later, court records obtained by Channel 11 charged 15-year-old Riley Doubt of Pittsburgh in connection with the shooting.

Police reportedly detained Doubt at the intersection of East General Robinson and Anderson streets in the North Shore, after learning that the shooter may have fled over the Seventh Street Bridge.

Doubt told police that he’d heard gunshots and started running, records say. He was released at his home after his clothing did not match that of the suspect shown on a city camera.

But further investigation led police to believe that Doubt may have been the shooter, and they detained him again at his home before taking him to police headquarters.

According to court records, Doubt admitted to police that he shot the victim. He then dumped a backpack with his clothes in a portable restroom and tried to throw the gun off a bridge.

Their encounter allegedly stemmed from the theft of a safe. Doubt claimed he thought the victim had a gun, though he never saw it, records say.

Police say they located two 9-millimeter shell casings and a black face mask at the scene of the shooting.

Surveillance video reportedly shows four people gathered in Katz Plaza. At one point, a person walks away from the group and the victim follows.

Doubt then lifts his shirt and struggles briefly with the victim, records say. When the two separate, Doubt aims a gun at the victim, who then falls out of view of the camera. Doubt then runs away toward the Seventh Street Bridge.

Doubt is charged with criminal homicide, carrying a firearm without a license, possession of a firearm by a minor and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence.

He’s being held in the Allegheny County Jail and has been denied bail.

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