On Tuesday, Alle-Kiski Valley residents expressed relief and sadness that the man suspected of killing New Kensington police Officer Brian Shaw had been arrested.

When Heather Nealer, 28, told her 3-year-old son, Nolan, that the nice police officer he showed his toy handcuffs to in October had been killed, she said his eyes filled with tears.

He asked simply, “Why would somebody do that?”

When news broke that Rahmael Sal Holt, the man police believe is responsible for the murder of Shaw on Friday, had been taken into custody, Nealer said her boy smiled.

“I told him this morning before I went to work that they got the bad guy,” she said. “He wasn't completely awake yet, but he just looked up at me and grinned.”

Tuesday morning on Ladora Way in Pittsburgh's Hazelwood neighborhood, Kristina Jackson awoke about 4:45 a.m. when she heard what turned out to be a police officer shouting over a loudspeaker.

Jackson said she didn't know Holt's family was staying on her street, and she was alarmed to find out after the fact that he'd been hiding there.

“It's definitely scary, especially when you have children,” she said.

The 5000 block of Ladora Way is relatively quiet, Jackson said. Only about a dozen houses sit on that side of the street, the whole of which is bisected by Path Way and West Elizabeth Street.

The red brick home where Holt was taken into custody showed no signs of the earlier SWAT presence by mid-afternoon. The home had no visible damage, and not even police tape remained.

Police were hunting Holt after he allegedly fled a traffic stop Friday night on Leishman Avenue in New Kensington and fatally shot Shaw, 25, during a foot pursuit. Holt, 29, of Harrison was charged with murder of a law enforcement officer, murder of the first degree, illegal firearm possession and carrying a firearm without a license.

Holt was arrested along with several friends and family members accused of harboring him.

“I hope he gets the death penalty,” Gerald Baer said.

Baer lives on Leishman Avenue across from the parking lot where Shaw died. He said he heard gunshots that evening and ran to his window to see Shaw on the ground. Baer called 911 but failed to get through.

“I figure everyone in the neighborhood was calling at that point. When I got back to the window, the street was already filling with cops,” he said. “I'm glad they caught the guy, but they still haven't executed the guys that killed that Apollo cop.”

John Lesko and Michael Travaglia were convicted of killing four people, including a police officer, over an eight-day murder spree that ended Jan. 3, 1980.

Both were sentenced to die, but Travaglia died in prison in September of natural causes and Lesko remains behind bars.

Though the commonwealth's laws permit a death sentence, Pennsylvania has executed only three people, all convicted of murder, since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. All three men executed in the state were under Gov. Tom Ridge's administration, the last of which was in 1999.

Gov. Tom Wolf issued a moratorium on executions in early 2015 pending an investigation into the state's death row system.

Barry George, 58, of Arnold said he isn't going to jump to conclusions, and that in the United States all citizens are innocent until proven guilty. But he added that if the police were putting as much effort into finding Holt as they were, they probably have the right man.

“I hope justice is served,” he said. “They think he did it and, if he did, I hope he gets his just deserts. I'm sorry that Officer Shaw got shot, but we'll have to wait for justice to work.”

Art Decker, 70, of Brackenridge expressed regret that yet another police officer had been murdered in the Alle-Kiski Valley.

Decker wondered whether more training was required to prevent further deaths.

“Maybe it's time for something to change at the police academy. How many more do we have to lose?”

News of Holt's capture was well received at Rusiewicz Funeral Home in Lower Burrell, where a crowd of at least 1,000 was expected Tuesday to pay their respects on the last of two days of visitation for Shaw, who was a city resident.

“It is great news,” said Jeff Stahl, manager of the Quality Inn on Tarentum Bridge Road in New Kensington. “But it's still a sad situation.”

Catherine Collett, principal of Mary Queen of Apostles Catholic School in New Kensington, said, “I'm glad he was captured now before the funeral service. It's a relief.”

But the community is still grieving, she said.

“Nothing you can say can take the pain away,” Collett added.

To give thanks to Shaw and others who protect the city, the school held prayer services Tuesday every 40-minute period during the school day so its 206 pupils from kindergarten to eighth grade could participate.

As more details emerged Tuesday about Shaw's death, former Burrell track coach Eric Uncapher said he thought Shaw, given the choice, would go after a person who fled a crime scene rather than the car.

“Brian could run people down,” Uncapher said. “He was probably one of the fastest kids to come through Burrell,” he said.

Matthew Medsger, Mary Ann Thomas and Megan Guza are Tribune-Review staff writers.

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