Man slain in Wilkinsburg was wanted by police

The 22-year-old man killed Saturday in Wilkinsburg was a convicted felon who absconded from his parole and was wanted on charges he led police on a chase in May.

Tarue L. Johnson of Pittsburgh was shot to death about 12:30 p.m. at a home in the 1500 block of

Swissvale Avenue, according to Allegheny County police. No arrests had been made in his slaying Monday.

Johnson was wanted on charges he stole his sister’s car May 17 and then led Wilkinsburg police on a chase when the officers attempted a traffic stop. Police believe Johnson ran from the still-running car after a short pursuit; he was not apprehended and the charges were still pending when he was killed.

That case is the latest of several involving Johnson that date back to 2014, when he was 17. In February 2014, Johnson was charged as an adult with shooting a 15year-old boy in the Garland Parklet near the intersection of Penn Circle West and Rural Street in East Liberty.

The boy survived the shooting, and both he and another witness, 17-year-old Naytel Pack, were expected to testify against Johnson in theattempted homicide case.

But on July 17, while Johnson was incarcerated in the Allegheny County Jail awaiting trial, his brother, Charles Stevens, 25, shot Naytel to death in Garfield.

Stevens informed Johnson of his plan on a jail call about six hours before the killing, according to court records. Stevens told Johnson he’d gone to a basketball court to kill Naytel earlier that day but that too many people were around, so he’d try again that night, according to court records.

Stevens was later convictedof third-degree murder in Naytel’s death. Johnson was not charged in connection to Naytel’s killing, but he pleaded guilty to aggravated assault in the shooting of the 15-year-old and was sentenced in November 2014 to two to six years in state prison followed by five years probation.

Johnson was paroled in May 2016 but failed to meet the terms of his release. That July, the Board of Probation and Parole declared him delinquent. Almost a year later, in June 2017, a fugitive task force found Johnson at an East Hills home and arrested him after he attempted to jump out a window.

The arresting officers found a gun, heroin, crack cocaine, ammunition and a digital scale in the house; they charged Johnson with illegally possessing the gun, as well as drug charges.

Johnson remained in jail awaiting trial until January 2018, when the Allegheny County district attorney’s office requested that the nonjury trial be pushed back so they could locate a witness. Common Pleas Judge Anthony M. Mariani granted that request but also gave Johnson a non-monetary bond on the condition he be released into state parole custody.

Court records do not indicate why Judge Mariani granted the bond, but state rules of criminal procedure require that defendants in custody be tried within six months of their arrests.

It appears Johnson was held on the parole detainer until February, when he was found not guilty on the drug and gun charges and was apparently allowed to return to his parole, according to records from the Board of Probation and Parole.

Less than a month later, Johnson violated his parole in the 2014 case, state records show. He was again declared delinquent in April 2018. He had been on the lam since, according to the board.

Johnson’s family could not be reached Monday.