Tinder date setup led to carjacking, shooting in Green Tree

GREEN TREE, Pa. — Police said the victim of a shooting in Green Tree expected to have a very different experience when he thought he was meeting a date from the popular Tinder dating app on Monday.

Instead, he was approached by two men around 8:15 p.m., who tried to carjack him and ended up shooting him in the parking lot of Unity Presbyterian Church on Greentree Road.

Police arrested three men for the shooting: 21-year-old Scottie Harris; 20-year-old Jamere Blackwell and 22-year-old Sequawon Harris, all charged with criminal attempt homicide among other charges.

“It’s certainly odd but it’s not an unknown thing for activity because it’s considered a safe place,” Dennis Molnar, pastor at Unity Presbyterian Church, said. “We need to pray for the people involved — not only the one that was shot but also the perpetrators of that because you just don’t want that to be the course of their lives either.”

According to the probable cause affidavit, the 21-year-old victim — who’s expected to be OK — told police he connected with a girl on Tinder. She told him to meet her at the church down the road from her. While waiting for her in the church’s parking lot, the victim says a man came up to his car, pointed a gun at him and said, “You’re giving me your car.”

The victim says he reached for his gun. And as he was getting out of his car he got shot in the arm and back. He says he heard at least 10 gunshots. After that, the suspects took off.

First responders found the man who had been shot in his right arm and was bleeding profusely. The man was taken to a local hospital and police believe he will survive his injuries.

“Back where we live it’s totally black back there. There’s no streetlights. So when we talked to police they asked us to inform all of our neighbors to flick on lights so they could see,” resident Mike Schoenefeldt said. “They were looking for any suspects that could have ran down into the woods.”

Police say they found the suspects in a house on Greentree Road about 250 feet from the church.

“You just don’t know what’s going to happen in your neighborhood,” Molnar said.

The suspects were all taken to the Allegheny County Jail to await arraignment.

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