Police suspect robbers killed 3

June 16, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

McKEESPORT, Pa.

Residents of a public-housing complex near Pittsburgh say masked robbers have been preying on them the past two weeks, and county police believe a triple fatal shooting may be the result of the latest such heist.

There had been other robberies at the Crawford Village housing complex in McKeesport in recent weeks, Assistant Allegheny County Police Superintendent James Morton told The Associated Press, but he did not say how many.

He said police are pursuing the possibility that Tuesday’s early-morning shooting that left two males and one woman dead at a birthday party may have been part of the string.

The county medical examiner’s office identified two of the victims as 30-year-old Jahard Poindexter and 17-year Tre Madden, both of McKeesport. Authorities said the other victim was a 23-year-old woman but were still working on her identification.

Robert Randolph said Poindexter had been his best friend since second grade. Randolph said he had been to the party for Poindexter’s younger sister but left around 11:30 p.m. Monday. He learned about the shootings when friends called him to see if he was OK.

“That can’t be my best friend that just died,” Randolph said. “Jay was a very outgoing person; he was just a working man. I don’t know why that they did it.”

Neighbors throughout the sprawling complex, which consists of dozens of buildings on a hillside about 10 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, milled about as police investigated the crime scene and said they were afraid after a series of home-invasion robberies in recent weeks.

A 60-year-old woman who lives in a unit across the street was one of several neighbors to tell a reporter of at least four robberies in the past couple of weeks.

“I just heard they’ve been going into people’s houses and things, taking their food, steaks, cigarettes, anything they can get their hands on,” said the woman, who would not give her name, citing fears of retribution.

She was sitting at her kitchen table eating a snack when she heard the gunshots about 1 a.m., which she compared to firecrackers exploding.

“Then I heard a girl screaming, and I saw a man laying in the street face-down,” she said.

One 50-year-old woman who’s lived in the housing complex for about seven years said residents are terrorized.

“Yeah, they’re starting to rob people a lot, constantly now, every week now,” said the woman, who refused to give her name, out of fear, adding, “People are getting robbed and [are] scared to tell.

“They’re just coming in and seeing what they can get,” she said. “Everybody’s poor around here. I slept with boards over my door last night. That ain’t no way to live.”

The housing project has 514 units owned by the McKeesport Housing Authority.

Executive director Stephen Buckler said authority officials “are aware of one burglary in our community within the last week or so” but did not elaborate. McKeesport Assistant Police Chief Tom Greene told a reporter that only county police were commenting on the case.

Morton, the assistant police superintendent, said a forensic unit checked for fingerprints on the window of another apartment about 75 yards away from the shooting scene. He couldn’t say if it found any.

The tenant of that unit is a 54-year-old retired McKeesport police officer. He said detectives believe whoever tried to break into his house Friday might have been involved in Tuesday’s incident.

“They broke into my house and shot at me once,” said the man, who requested anonymity “because of the retribution out here, especially being a police officer.

“I think if I would have come running out of my bedroom faster, I would have been hit,” he said, adding that the would-be burglars ran away before they could get in through his window. He said he found a 9mm shell casing on his floor Sunday.

Poindexter’s next-door neighbor, a 26-year-old woman who has two young children and also requested anonymity for fear of retribution, said the victim was the only friend she had in the complex.

“This is a neighborhood that you don’t get involved in things ... “ she said, pointing to Poindexter’s apartment, “Because of stuff like that.”