Verona police made an arrest Friday morning in connection with a December robbery and shooting in the borough.
According to Verona Officer Thomas Dessell, Price Riley, 37, was wanted for allegedly robbing his Uber driver and later firing a gunshot inside a gas station bathroom in December.
“With the assistance of Oakmont, Penn Hills, Allegheny Valley Regional and Allegheny County police departments, Riley was taken into custody without incident at a residence along Center Avenue (in Verona),” Dessell said in an email.
According to a criminal complaint, Riley, of Verona, was traveling in an Uber at around 6 p.m. on December 19 when he told the driver to stop at the Verona GetGo on Allegheny River Boulevard to buy beer.
The driver told police that while en route, he heard a pistol racking, or loading, in the backseat. The driver looked in the rearview mirror and saw Riley pointing a pistol at him and demanding money, according to the complaint. The driver gave Riley about $125 to $150 in cash, the complaint said.
In relation to that incident, police charged Riley with robbery, illegal possession of a firearm and carrying a firearm without a license.
In a separate criminal complaint, police said they were dispatched to the Verona GetGo just before 6:40 p.m. for a report of a shot fired in the men’s bathroom.
An employee told police she was in the break room when she heard a loud bang, and two areas of the wall exploding, the complaint said. The employee said an unknown object hit her upper leg and left a red mark.
Officers said they located what appeared to be a bullet jacket on the floor of the bathroom, and a fired bullet in the break room.
Security footage showed Riley was the only person in the bathroom during that time, the complaint said.
In that case, Riley was charged with persons not to possess a firearm, discharging a firearm into an occupied structure, carrying a firearm without a license and recklessly endangering another person.
Dessell said police received a tip on Riley’s whereabouts Friday morning.
Riley was taken to the Allegheny County Jail in Pittsburgh. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for June 16 in District Judge Anthony DeLuca’s Penn Hills courtroom, according to court records.
