Family, friends mourn loss of 18-year-old Leona Dailey in fatal Penn Hills shooting

Leon Dailey stood in the parking lot of a closed Penn Hills bar Saturday, calling up cellphone photos of his daughter’s graduation and images of the straight A’s on her last report card.

Just two days earlier, 18-yearold Leona “Lay Lay” Dailey was fatally shot outside of Flinn’s Pub on Frankstown Road.

“We all came together tonight to give blessings,” said Mr. Dailey, of Washington, Pa. “How she was 18 and even at this place, I haven’t the slightest idea.”

A crowd of about 100 family and friends held candles and released balloons in honor of the 2019 Penn Hills graduate, athlete and “beautiful soul who was taken too soon,” said cousin Shannel Briggs, 21, of Wilkinsburg. They laid candles to spell out “Lay” just beside the pavement where police found Ms. Dailey with a gunshot wound to the head just before 2:30 a.m. Thursday.

Allegheny County police said Ms. Dailey and an unidentified woman got into a fight in the parking lot outside of the pub in the 12000 block of Frankstown Road, and during the altercation, Ms. Dailey was shot.

She died at Forbes Hospital roughly a half-hour later.

The teen suffered in recent years after her mother, Lisa Briggs Dailey, died of a heart attack two years ago, said Ms. Dailey’s uncle, Dennis Briggs, 59, of Wilkinsburg.

Her older sister Jasmine Morris was fatally shot at age 21 in Homewood in 2013, Mr. Briggs said.

“This is very hurtful to our family, and it has ripple effects,” he said. “It’s not just Lay Lay. It’s her little cousins [who are affected], too.”

Ms. Dailey was helping her other older sister raise four children, all under age 14.

Mr. Briggs said the family wants “a major follow-up”

regarding why the shooting occurred in the bar’s parking lot.

Allegheny County police Superintendent Coleman McDonough said police had no suspects and no further details to release as of Thursday afternoon. Police did not immediately respond to an inquiry Saturday night.

Khalil Darden, 18, of Penn Hills, said he’d known Ms. Dailey since the fourth grade.

“She was a loving person, a good aunt, a good daughter, always a good spirit to be around,” he said.

Mr. Darden and Ms. Dailey’s sister so far have raised $1,930 of their $3,000 goal on an online fundraiser via GoFundMe to help with funeral costs.

The family is planning the funeral for early January.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Allegheny County Police tip line at 1-833-ALL-TIPS (1833-255-8477). Callers can remain anonymous.

Michael M. Santiago/Post-Gazette Kennice Easley, of the East Hills, one of Leona Dailey’s best friends, joins Ms. Dailey’s family and friends at her vigil Saturday night at Flinn’s Pub in Penn Hills. To watch a video, visit post-gazette.com.

Michael M. Santiago/Post-Gazette Friends and family of Leona Dailey release balloons in her honor as they shout her name at a vigil Saturday at Flinn’s Pub in Penn Hills. Ms. Dailey, 18, was fatally shot early Thursday. No arrests have been made in connection with her slaying.