Retired Pittsburgh police officer charged with attempted homicide

A retired Pittsburgh police officer was arrested Tuesday after allegedly shooting her grandson in the leg.

Virginia Beck, 63, of Pittsburgh is retired from the city’s police bureau, public safety spokeswoman Cara Cruz confirmed.

Pittsburgh police arrested Beck in connection with the shooting. She faces charges of criminal attempted homicide, aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of children and recklessly endangering another person.

The injured teenager is in stable condition, public safety officials said.

According to a criminal complaint, a woman called 911 around 12:30 a.m. Tuesday, screaming to request medics to respond to Hawthorne Court in the city’s Stanton Heights neighborhood.

Police said a 16-year-old was dropped off at a local hospital overnight Monday into Tuesday with a gunshot wound to the leg. A female family member took him to the hospital but left before police arrived, police said.

When police arrived, a friend of Beck’s told police she had gone to UPMC Children’s Hospital with the gunshot victim. Officials at the hospital called police around 1:30 a.m. to report a teenager with a gunshot wound to the leg.

Police identified Beck as being the victim’s grandmother.

Officials said she took the victim to the hospital but left before police arrived.

The teen and his father told police and social workers that he had bee fighting with Beck when she shot him in the leg in her home, according to the complaint.

The teenager — who police did not identify — said he saw Beck take a silver revolver from her waistband and point it at him. He used a Play Station controller he had in his hand to try to block the bullet, according to the criminal complaint.

Online court records indicate Beck was denied bail and is being held at Allegheny County Jail.

Her preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 4.