Allegheny County probation officer, client wounded in Wilkinsburg shooting

An Allegheny County probation officer and his client were wounded late Wednesday afternoon in an ambush-style shooting in Wilkinsburg that drew a heavy law enforcement response.

The on-duty probation officer and another man were sitting on the front porch of a two-story brick home at 1543 Marlboro Ave. around 4:50 p.m. when two men charged up an alley directly across from the front of the house and at least one opened fire.

It appeared 11 shots were fired from a single handgun, said James Morton, assistant superintendent of the Allegheny County Police Department. Nine rounds hit the house.

The two wounded men are expected to survive and were taken to hospitals for treatment, according to a release from the county. Neither has been publicly identified.

The probation officer was “walking and talking” to first responders, county police Superintendent Coleman McDonough said.

He described the two suspects as black males in their late teens or early 20s and said they dressed in all black during the attack. Both suspects ran from the scene, and a police dog lost the scent not far from the house.

Neither suspect had been captured as of Wednesday night.

Investigators believe the probation client, who lived in the home, was the likely target of the attack, Assistant Superintendent Morton said, but investigators declined to comment on any possible motivation for the shooting. Superintendent McDonough also declined to say whether the probation officer was armed.

Neighbors reported hearing a burst of rapid gunfire.

“They were fast,” said one woman who declined to give her name. “It was like pow pow pow pow pow.”

Another neighbor, Colletta Lord, said she often sees young men sitting out on the front porch

where the shooting happened.

She said they were friendly and did not cause trouble in the typically quiet neighborhood.

The narrow street is lined with two-story homes and quadplexes. Several buildings on the street are vacant, boarded up or dilapidated.

Ms. Lord said her husband was home during the shooting and saw the immediate aftermath of the attack. He saw one person shot in the leg and another in the head, she said. He did not see anyone wearing a uniform until the first responders arrived.

Officers from Pittsburgh, the county sheriff’s office, Edgewood, Penn Hills, Plum and Swissvale responded.