Man faces federal charge over gun that killed child

A Mount Washington man whose gun, authorities say, killed a 3-year-old was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury on a firearms charge.

Paul Parrish, 42, a convicted felon, was initially charged by Pittsburgh police with illegally possessing the gun that Yasha Ross found in his house and used to kill herself accidentally on March 12, 2017.

But the Allegheny County district attorney’s office agreed to not prosecute him in that case or a separate drug case in deference to the federal prosecution. They dropped the prosecutions last month, shortly after Parrish, nickn a m e d “Pills,” was charged June 3 under seal in federal court.

According to an affidavit by an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Parrish had the 9 mm semi-automatic pistol that Yasha used, along with ammunition, despite having convictions that prohibited him from owning any firearms.

He now faces a maximum sentence of up to life imprisonment, a $250,000 fine or both.

Mike Manko, a spokesman for the DA’s office, said Friday that the investigation into Yasha’s death remains open.

Yasha, of Coraopolis, died after she was shot in the upper chest. Authorities said Parrish lived in the home in the 700 block of Southern Avenue.

Parrish, Delquay James and Michelle Gandy — Yasha’s mother — were smoking marijuana in the basement of the home when “they heard a loud bang coming from the upper part of the house,” a Pittsburgh police detective wrote in an affidavit. “They ran up the steps, and Michelle found her daughter bleeding from the chest and crying out for her.”