Man held in shooting arrested at hospital

Before the shooting Monday, the accused was free on $1 bond in a homicide.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR PENNSYLVANIA BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- A 19-year-old man went to the hospital to check on the condition of two men he is accused of shooting.
New Castle Police Chief Tom Sansone said Kailin Stewart, 19, of New Castle, drove to the hospital after the shooting, according to an affidavit filed to support charges. Stewart is charged with two counts each of aggravated assault and carrying a firearm without a license.
He is accused of shooting Lee Campbell, 18, of Sankey Street, and Marlon Mercer, 19, of Big Run Street.
Stewart went to the hospital on his own and was yelling that he wanted to see his friends, the affidavit states. "You don't understand. I accidentally shot him," Stewart told a police officer, an apparent reference to Campbell.
Sansone said Campbell was shot in the chest, but the bullet apparently didn't hit any vital organs. He was to be released sometime Tuesday from UPMC in Pittsburgh, where the victims were flown after being taken by private vehicles to Jameson Hospital.
Mercer was upgraded to guarded condition at UPMC Pittsburgh, police said Tuesday.
Both were shot in the chest about 12:31 p.m. Monday in an apartment at the Neshannock Village Housing Complex.
What happened
Sansone said Stewart and Mercer were apparently arguing when, Stewart contends, Mercer pulled out a gun. Campbell was not involved in the argument but shot when Mercer tried to use him as a shield, Sansone said. The same bullet apparently went through both men, police said.
Stewart turned over a 9 mm handgun to police at the hospital, and police said they found shell casings from another gun.
Before Monday's shooting, Stewart was free on a nominal bond in a homicide. Stewart is charged with criminal homicide and conspiracy in the February 2004 shooting death of Carmen Oliva.
Stewart; his father, Ronald Gilmore Jr., 36; and another man, Andrae Jackson, 23, of Sankey Street, were charged in Oliva's shooting death, but Stewart and Jackson were released from jail in January on $1 bond each.
District Attorney John Bongivengo could not be reached Tuesday for details on that matter.
Stewart is being held with bond set at $200,000 in this week's shooting.
cioffi@vindy.com