Pa. cop charged in shooting death of unarmed black teen

PITTSBURGH — A white police officer was charged Wednesday with homicide in the death of an unarmed black teenager who was shot in the back while fleeing a traffic stop, an incident that has fueled daily protests around Pittsburgh.

Prosecutors cited Officer Michael Rosfeld’s inconsistent statements about whether he saw a gun in the teen’s hand.

The officer first told investigators that the teen turned his hand toward him when he ran from the car and the officer “saw something dark he perceived as a gun,” according to the criminal complaint.

During a second recap of last week’s shooting, Rosfeld told investigators he did not see a gun and he was not sure if the teen’s arm was pointed at him when he fired at Antwon Rose Jr., 17.

The 30-year-old officer had been sworn in just hours before the June 19 shooting in East Pittsburgh, a small town near the city, after working at the police department for a couple weeks. After being charged, he turned himself in and was released on $250,000 bond.

Criminal homicide is a broad category that includes manslaughter and murder. Pennsylvania prosecutors typically specify what subsection of homicide they will pursue later in the case.

Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala said his office planned to ask a jury to consider the highest charge of first-degree murder.

The car Rose was in had been stopped on suspicion of involvement in a driveby shooting. But investigators determined that Rose had done nothing “except be in the car,” he said.

Asked by reporters if he saw anything in Rosfeld’s past employment records that raised concerns, Zappala said yes but declined to elaborate.

Rosfeld pulled over the car in which Rose was a passenger about 15 minutes after reports of a drive-by shooting in nearby North Braddock. In that attack, a 22-year-old man was shot in the abdomen and was treated and released from the hospital.

A witness described a car from that shooting as matching the one Rose was in. A bystander from a nearby home captured video of a portion of the stop and the shooting.

As Rosfeld took the driver of the car into custody, the passenger doors open and Rose and another teen are seen running from the car. The officer then fires three shots. Rose was shot in the right side of his face, in the elbow and in the back by a bullet that stuck his lung and heart, which was the fatal wound.

Two guns were found in the car, and an empty gun magazine was found in Rose’s pocket, investigators said.

According to the complaint, the driver of the car, who was operating as an unlicensed cabbie, said he heard shots from the back of the vehicle, where the second teen was sitting. He said Rose was sitting in the front and did not fire any shots during the earlier shooting.

Rosfeld has been on administrative leave since the shooting. He is due back in court July 6.