Cellphone videos help identify suspect in July Duquesne shooting
Charges have been filed against a man police say shot a 17-year-old last month in Duquesne.
The suspect, Calid Pettiford, 21, now faces several charges, including attempted homicide.
Police say that the shooting took place on July 12. Investigators used videos on Pettiford's cellphone to identify him as the suspect.
The reason they had his phone was that he'd been shot in a later shooting alongside a pregnant woman who died.
On July 12, a 17-year-old who police have not named was shot along Seventh and Kennedy in Duquesne.
The complaint says the victim told police he saw some friends, slowed down to wave, was shot at, and injured.
He then ducked and crashed into bushes.
Hours later, at 1:30 a.m. on July 13, Allegheny County police were called to Washington Avenue in Clairton for a pregnant woman who'd been shot and killed along with a male who'd been shot in the chest but survived.
The woman, who was pregnant at the time, was found dead at the scene. She was identified as 18-year-old Ja'el Torres, who had just recently graduated from high school. The man was identified as Pettiford. The complaint does not specify if he and Torres knew each other.
Police say they recovered multiple firearms. They also say they collected Pettiford's phone and received a search warrant to download what was on the device.
The complaint says they found multiple videos.
In those selfie-style videos, the complaint says that Pettiford referenced the 17-year-old from the earlier shooting, saying, "Yeah, that's me, that's my work," before holding up two guns and saying, "Yeah, we up one."
Police also referenced GPS data from the phone that put Pettiford at the scene of the shooting in Duquesne.
The family of Torres, the woman who was shot dead, said her boyfriend, the father of their child, was then shot dead just two days later at a playground in Homestead.
KDKA-TV reached out to county police to work toward getting that connection confirmed, and they declined to add any additional information.
Editor's note: A previous version of this story incorrectly labeled a charge against Pettiford as criminal homicide. He is facing a charge of attempted homicide.
