Dad mourns loss of fatally shot son

city police spokeswoman Sonya Toler said investigators have no leads.

Yohance Paris, 43, of New York City said investigators told him that they plan to review footage from a security camera near the scene of the shooting, but they did not have a chance to do so before the weekend.

He said he was surprised to learn that his son was in Pittsburgh. He said his son grew up a “country boy” in Yakima, Wash., a city of fewer than 95,000 people about 150 miles southeast of Seattle.

As a child, Elijah Paris excelled in academics, particularly in mathematics, according to his father. But he also had troubles and “tremendous instability from day one until now,” Yohance Paris said. Elijah was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, his father said, and his heavy regimen of medication “made him worse.”

Elijah’s sister, Rayanna, was one of the most wellliked people in their school, Yohance Paris said.

“She was the ultra-popular girl in school, and he was the goofy kid with the popular sister,” he said. “He had friends, but he might [have been] the butt of jokes now and then.”

Yohance Paris said his separation from the twins’ mother was cordial, but he regrets his decision not to be involved in the lives of his children.

“I spent the last 19 years of my life unable to remove the picture of him and his sister sleeping in their bed the night I left,” he said.

Elijah Paris hit a growth spurt around age 15 and went from being “short” to 6 feet 3 inches or 6-4, according to his father.

“I don’t know if he changed his attitude from a meek and mild person to a braggadocious person,” Yohance Paris said. “He did change.”

He said he believes his son was in Pittsburgh to attend barber school or perhaps work a construction job. It’s unclear exactly how long Elijah Paris had been living in the city.

The younger Mr. Paris was charged by Fox Chapel police with several gun and drug offenses late last year.

On Dec. 27, according to a criminal complaint, Elijah Paris was found in the basement of a home on West Chapel Ridge Road in Fox Chapel with cocaine, marijuana, a scale and other drug paraphernalia. He also had a loaded handgun, the complaint said.

He was held for trial at his March 15 preliminary hearing but was out of jail on $7,500 bail.

Attorney Al Burke, who represented Elijah Paris, said he didn’t have much information because case findings are not presented until after the preliminary hearing.

It was unclear why Mr. Paris was in the Fox Chapel home. Residents of the home did not return a call seeking comment.

Yohance Paris was unaware of the charges against his son.

He said the last time he talked to his son was about a month ago.

The elder Mr. Paris said he’s remorseful that he didn’t talk to his son more over the years.

“When you’re not with your children, you’re not as complete and mature as you should be,” he said. “… There’s not a day that went by in the last 19 years that I didn’t regret [leaving] and thought about it.”