‘Why would someone shoot at her?’
Friend recalls killing of pregnant mother
Tammy Cinkin was in her Brighton Heights home Tuesday night when she heard a series of gunshots go off one after the other — boom, boom, boom, boom.
She opened her window and saw four or five teenagers running in the alleyway. Then she heard a familiar voice cry, “Help me! Help me!”
Ms. Cinkin, 47, ran out of her home and down the street. She saw her pregnant best friend, 27-yearold Deona Barnett, on her hands and knees, crawling up Antrim Street toward the corner of Richardson Avenue. She collapsed to the pavement a few houses away from home shortly after 9 p.m.
A group of neighbors, including one who is training to become a nurse, ran over to try to help. Someone grabbed a towel. Ms. Cinkin took Ms. Barnett’s purse off her arm and placed it under her head to cushion her from the concrete. She held Ms. Barnett’s hand as the young mother of five went in and out of consciousness.
Ms. Barnett kept calling for
someone to help her. “I said, ‘I’m trying, honey. I’m trying.’ ”
Later that night, after paramedics had taken Ms. Barnett to UPMC Mercy, Ms. Cinkin got a call saying television news reporters were saying that her friend had died.
In recent weeks, Ms. Barnett frequently walked alone to a nearby convenience store, often taking that same route along Antrim Street and up Richardson Avenue to get home. Her friend, Tammy Cinkin, worried about Ms. Barnett’s safety and said she had offered to accompany her. She thought Ms. Barnett was walking to or from the store when she was shot.
Ms. Cinkin said she watched that night as Pittsburgh police searched for evidence along the dark clump of brush near the sidewalk where Ms. Barnett had collapsed. She later tried to go to sleep but struggled, waking up after only a little more than two hours.
She spent a lot of the morning crying.
“I just can’t get her face ... out of my mind,” Ms. Cinkin said.
“I can’t believe it? Why her?”
Ms. Cinkin said she met Ms. Barnett some time ago, when Ms. Barnett moved into a building on Richardson Avenue. Ms. Barnett was a stay-at-home mother who had five children, three of whom lived with her mother.
Ms. Barnett was friendly and had a good reputation, neighbors said. Ms. Cinkin said her 2-year-old grandson adored Ms. Barnett and grew bashful when she would come around and ask him for a hug.
In recent weeks, Ms. Barnett frequently walked alone to a nearby convenience store, often taking that same route along Antrim Street and up Richardson Avenue to get home. Ms. Cinkin worried about Ms. Barnett’s safety and said she had offered to accompany her. She thought Ms. Barnett was walking to or from the store when she was shot.
“Why would someone shoot at her?” Ms. Cinkin asked. “She’s a small, petite pregnant woman.”
Ms. Cinkin said she watched Wednesday morning as detectives searched the crime scene again, hoping to find something new in the light, and went door-todoor hoping to speak to neighbors.
About six miles away, in Beechview, Ms. Barnett’s relatives worked to comfort her children. Her mother declined to comment Wednesday morning. James Powell, who is dating Ms. Barnett’s mother, told KDKA-TV, “My girlfriend fell. My grandsons fell. I had to pick everybody up” when they found out Ms. Barnett had been shot.
He said Ms. Barnett “loved her kids very much” and had a beautiful singing voice.
Pittsburgh public safety spokeswoman Sonya Toler said police suspect Ms. Barnett, who had injuries to her pelvis, was the intended target of the shooting. She said officers were looking for leads on a “shadowy figure” who was spotted near the scene of the shooting but who was hard to distinguish in the dull, yellow lights of nearby street lamps.
Ms. Toler said it was unclear Wednesday whether the teenagers Ms. Cinkin saw were involved with the shooting or simply trying to get away from the gunfire. She said Ms. Barnett was struck with bullets that appeared to have been fired from one weapon.