Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, a Pittsburgh native, stumps for Hillary Clinton.

5 adults, unborn child killed in Wilkinsburg

The Allegheny County District Attorney’s office on Friday filed notice of its intent to seek the death penalty against two men accused of the mass slaying in Wilkinsburg in March.

Cheron Shelton, 29, of Lincoln-Lemington and Robert Thomas, 27, of Homewood are charged with killing five adults and an unborn child during a March 9 cookout at a home on Franklin Avenue in Wilkinsburg.

To obtain a sentence of execution, the prosecution must prove the existence of at least one aggravating factor. The jury must then determine that the aggravating factor outweighs any potential mitigating evidence presented by the defense.

In the case against Thomas and Shelton, the district attorney’s office listed four potential aggravating factors.

They include that the defendants created a grave risk of death to others during the crime; that they have a significant history of felony convictions using the threat of violence; that they have been convicted of another crime before — or at the time of the current offense — for which life imprisonment or the death penalty is possible; and that they have been convicted of another murder before or at the time of the current offense.

Investigators said the men had targeted Lamont Powell, who attended the cookout with several family members, because they believed he shot and killed Calvin Doswell of LincolnLemington in 2013.

Although Powell was shot and wounded, he survived.

Killed were Jerry Michael Shelton, 35, Brittany Powell, 27, and Chanetta Powell, 25, and their cousins Tina Shelton, 37, and Shada Mahone, 26. Chanetta Powell was eight months pregnant.

Police said that there were two volleys of gunfire that night — a person using a handgun fired 18 shots from the back of the lot, and the other suspect, using an assault-style rifle, then fired 30 shots into the crowd.

Shelton and Thomas were not charged in the case until late June.