Pittsburgh police identify teen charged in South Side shooting

Pittsburgh police on Monday identified the teenager charged in connection with a shooting last week on the city’s busy South Side.

Taiden Harvey, 15, of Clairton, is charged with two counts of attempted homicide, aggravated assault, firearms violations and two counts each of criminal mischief and reckless endangerment. He is charged as an adult, according to police.

The shooting happened about 1:30 a.m. Friday near the intersection of East Carson and South 18th streets. Two construction workers who were working inside the nearby PNC Bank had to dodge bullets, police have said. Investigators found two bullet holes in the bank window.

The criminal complaint notes two victims allegedly connected to Harvey. The night of the shooting, police reported three people were shot, including one person who was shot in the chest. Police have not indicated whether the third victim is connected to the shooting for which Harvey is charged.

According to the criminal complaint, cameras in the area showed an individual, later identified as Harvey, dressed in all black and wearing a black ski mask and red shoes firing at three men walking near the intersection of Carson and 18th. Detectives noted that footage showed the shooter turning and running down South 18th Street toward the Monongahela River.

At the same time, two plainclothes officers in an unmarked vehicle were pulling out of a parking lot on South 18th, according to the complaint. They followed Harvey to a driveway on Wrights Way, the alley behind East Carson Street. Officers ordered Harvey to the ground, according to the complaint, and he was taken into custody.

The gun he was found with was a 9x18 Markarov, police noted, which matched four spent shell casings found near the intersection where the shooting took place. Investigators also found a spent 9mm casing near the side door of PNC Bank.

One of the construction workers told police they’d been standing on the sidewalk near PNC’s side door when they saw a person shooting from the other corner, according to the complaint. The construction worker reported ducking behind a vehicle to get out of the line of fire. The same construction worker told police someone from the group of men Harvey allegedly shot at returned fire.

A second construction worker was walking out of the bank door when someone began shooting, according to the complaint. The worker said they dived back through the bank door and later noticed bullet damage to their pickup truck, according to the complaint. It was the same truck the first construction worker hid behind, police said.

Two of the men shot at by Harvey were injured: one man was struck in the shoulder blade and another was hit in the back of his legs, according to the complaint.