Guilty plea entered in 2019 July 4 shooting
Downtown fight led to man’s death
A Marshall-Shadeland man pleaded guilty Thursday to third-degree murder and other charges for a fatal shooting Downtown on July 4, 2019.
Camerin Caldwell, 21, will be sentenced by Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Susan Evashavik DiLucente on June 23 for aggravated assault and firearms violations in addition to the murder charge.
He was accused of shooting and wounding Keyari A. Wynn, 18, of Aliquippa, who died in UPMC Children’s Hospital from his injuries two years later. Caldwell fired at him during a late-night fight in the Cultural District amid the city’s Independence Day celebration, with thousands of revelers still in the city after fireworks completed.
The fight between “two opposing groups” spawned from rap videos in which the groups slandered each other, a criminal complaint says. Wynn and Kenneth Green, 18, were both shot by Caldwell, police said.
Caldwell, then 18 years old, turned himself in to police two weeks after the shooting.
The brawl’s Downtown location and its proximity to Point State Park, where thousands were gathered to watch the fireworks celebration, startled the city and led police and thenMayor Bill Peduto to explore using more buses and patrols to avoid violence at future events in the city.
“It is likely that numerous people witnessed the shooting as Downtown was extremely crowded at the time of the incident,” police officials said after the shooting.
In addition to a bigger police presence, authorities added a Downtown substation, air access from state police, high vantage points by police officers and enhanced security cameras throughout Downtown, officials said after the shooting.
Security footage showed Caldwell fleeing the scene and doing a “lay-up” style jump as he tossed a handgun into a dumpster in an alleyway. Police later recovered the firearm.
The violence also came just three years after a teen shot four people at Liberty and Seventh avenues, again following Independence Day festivities Downtown.