Man faces charges for killing witness

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

A heroin trafficking suspect has been charged with killing a government witness and seriously wounding her mother in western Pennsylvania nearly two years ago, federal and state prosecutors announced Monday.

U.S. Attorney David Hickton said the new charges against Price Montgomery, 35, show the “staunch determination” and “unwavering commitment to seek justice” for Tina Crawford and her family.

Crawford, 34, and her mother, Patsy Crawford, were gunned down near the garage of their Pittsburgh home in August 2014. Patsy Crawford was about to drive her daughter to the federal courthouse downtown to meet state and federal authorities investigating money laundering related to Montgomery’s alleged heroin operation, Hickton said.

Twenty-nine shots were fired at Crawford and her mother. Patsy Crawford was seriously wounded but survived, but Tina Crawford, who was shot 10 times, died, according to a probable cause affidavit filed last year by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The drug investigation against Montgomery was begun in 2011 by the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office. That investigation bore fruit when Montgomery and James Perrin, 37, were arrested when state drug agents raided a home owned by a former Pittsburgh Steelers player and found 1,500 bricks of heroin, more than $100,000 and 16 handguns, shotguns and rifles. A brick of heroin consists of 50 individual dose bags, making the drugs seized worth more than $500,000.