A shooting, then race to ER, ending in death

Childhood friend dies

A years-long childhood friendship ended in gunfire and a frantic race to the emergency entrance of Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC in Lawrenceville on Monday.

Raheem D. Porter, 23, of Beltzhoover and his friend, a 21year-old man who has not been publicly identified, were both shot around 6:40 p.m. Monday.

Although the 21-year-old man had been shot multiple times, he still got behind the wheel of a white Chevrolet Equinox and drove Porter, who was in the passenger seat, to the closest hospital. Porter was pronounced dead inside the hospital. His friend survived and is in critical but stable condition, according to Pittsburgh police.

Investigators have not released the exact location of the shooting, but family members of the men said Tuesday that the pair were in Garfield when they were shot.

Porter and the 21-year-old man had been friends since childhood and attended

elementary, middle and high school together, one relative said. She asked not to be identified out of fear for her safety.

“They grew up together,” she said. “They’d fall out, but their bond was so strong they’d always become friends again. Everybody goes through what they go through, but they’d always found a way back to being friends.”

Porter was an outgoing man who could light up a room on a good day, the relative said. He had a young daughter, a toddler, who was “his pride and joy,” she said. “She is what he lived for,” she said.

Police have not said what they believe motivated Monday’s double shooting. Porter has twice pleaded guilty to drug charges, and in 2015 was charged with aggravated assault in connection to a shooting, although those charges were later withdrawn, court records show.

In February 2016, he pleaded guilty to felony possession with intent to deliver after police found 127 stamp bags of heroin hidden inside his pants during an arrest in 2015. He was sentenced to two years of probation. Porter had been working to change his life since the birth of his daughter, the relative said.

“He started a whole new chapter in his life because of his daughter,” she said. “He wanted to be there for her and his child’s mother. He didn’t want something like this to happen. And unfortunately it did.”

Court records show Porter has not been arrested since 2015, although he was cited for driving without a license in March.