Teen indicted in shooting preceding death of Antwon Rose
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
An Allegheny County grand jury has indicted the teenager arrested in the drive-by shooting that occurred minutes before Antwon Rose II was killed by an East Pittsburgh police officer.
Zaijuan Hester, 17, of Swissvale, is charged as an adult with attempted homicide, multiple counts of aggravated assault, and various firearms violations.
He has been held for court and arraigned and will not have a preliminary hearing. All upcoming proceedings will occur in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court.
Mike Manko, spokesman for the Allegheny County district attorney’s office, declined Friday to answer questions about the grand jury, including when the indictment occurred or whether the panel was still actively involved in other aspects of the incident involving Zaijuan and Antwon.
The court document known as a criminal information, which lists the charges, identifies the victims injured in the driveby as William Ross and Thomas Cole Jr.
Zaijuan’s attorney, Anne Marie Mancuso, expressed concern that Zaijuan was being treated fairly by prosecutors.
“Over the course of my experience defending against criminal prosecutions, I have seen very few cases proceed in this fashion,” she said in an emailed statment.
“Though the Commonwealth has a lawful right to move forward by grand jury, it seems like more than a coincidence that the decision to indict my client in secret only came after my challenge to the admissibility and reliability of the Commonwealth’s evidence.
“In proceeding this way, the Commonwealth has denied my client the ability to have a hearing on the evidence, challenge witnesses, and defend himself against these accusations — all rights that were afforded to [East Pittsburgh police Officer Michael] Rosfeld before his decision to waive such a hearing.”
According to police, Zaijuan was the back-seat passenger in a gold Chevy Cruze when he fired a .40caliber handgun at a person in the 800 block of Kirkpatrick Avenue in North Braddock about 8:20 p.m. June 19.
Thirteen minutes later, Officer Rosfeld conducted a traffic stop of the car, which had gunshot damage to the back window, at Grandview Avenue and Howard Street.
Officer Rosfeld got the driver of the vehicle, a jitney, out on the ground, but police said Antwon, 17, and Zaijuan fled.
Officer Rosfeld fired three shots, striking Antwon in the back, face and arm. Officer Rosfeld has since been charged with criminal homicide.