4-month-old boy shot, reported in stable condition
INDIANA, PA. >> A 4-monthold boy was shot in a western Pennsylvania apartment, but the child is expected to survive, police said.
State police in Indiana County said officers were sent to the White Township unit shortly before 6:30 a.m. Saturday and found the boy with a single gunshot wound to the upper body.
Police said the child’s parents were present at the time and immediately alerted a neighbor, who called 911. The child was taken to Indiana Regional Medical Center and then rushed to UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, where he was reported in stable condition.
Police said Sunday they have not made any arrests are not looking for any suspects. Police and the county district attorney’s office are investigating.
Ruling on dismissal against 1 in cookout slaying expected
PITTSBURGH >> A judge is scheduled to rule Monday on a motion to dismiss charges against one of two men accused of killing five people and an unborn baby at a western Pennsylvania cookout almost four years ago.
Thirty-three-yearold Cheron Shelton and 31-year-old Robert Thomas are charged in the March 2016 killings in Pittsburgh’s Wilkinsburg suburb. Authorities allege Thomas opened fire on one side and Shelton then gunned down victims running onto a porch for safety.
The attorney for Thomas has sought dismissal of the charges against his client after prosecutors decided against putting a key witness on the stand. Common Pleas Judge Edward Borkowski said he needed the weekend to consider whether enough evidence remains for Thomas to stand trial.
Prosecutors have said they plan to seek capital punishment if the defendants are convicted of first-degree murder. They allege that the target, who survived the gunfire, was a person Shelton believed was involved in the 2013 murder of a friend.
Defense attorneys have contended there is no physical evidence that links the two men to the Wilkinsburg crime scene. Prosecutors contend that cellphone data shows them in communication as well as in the area at the time.