Carjacker killed by police on Route 51 had racked up gun, drug charges

Tyrone Dale Harris Jr. had a history with guns.

And drugs.

And running from police.

The carjacker who unloaded dozens of rounds from an AR-15-style rifle as police chased him through three Pittsburgh neighborhoods before they fatally shot him Monday was just three days out of jail, on bail awaiting trial on a slew of gun and drug charges.

Harris had been declared delinquent on gun charges twice when he was a juvenile, according to police.

His court-appointed lawyer, Lyle Dresbold, acknowledged that Harris' crimes seemed to escalate as an adult.

“I was pretty surprised when it was brought to my attention this morning,” Dresbold said Tuesday.

Dresbold described Harris as soft-spoken and generally respectful. Harris' death was “tragic,” he said.

No one could say why Harris set off through city neighborhoods with a rifle.

Members of his family, gathered on the porch of his mother's house in Knoxville, said they weren't ready to talk.

In May 2014, Harris had two cellphones and $1,383 in cash in his pockets when police pulled over the car he was riding in, according to a criminal complaint in the case. Police found heroin, marijuana, more phones and a lot more cash when they searched the other two men in the car.

In October, Harris led police on a high-speed chase near UPMC Presbyterian in Oakland during which he ran into a police car, injuring the officer driving it, according to a criminal complaint.

In March, 16 days after his 20th birthday, Harris was face-down drunk on a table in an East Carson Street restaurant. When paramedics arrived, he jumped up, clutched a gun at his waist and stumbled to his vehicle, said another criminal complaint. Police found a loaded Glock pistol on Harris and seven bricks of heroin and a clear bag of marijuana in his minivan, the complaint said.

Harris posted $5,000 bond a few days after that arrest and was out of jail until he missed a court hearing in May. He turned himself in this month and, after spending nine days in jail, posted $20,000 bond Friday.

A person at Liberty Bail Bonds on Penn Avenue had no comment when asked about Harris.

District Judge Derwin Rushing, who initially set Harris' bail at $5,000, was unavailable for comment. North Versailles Senior District Judge Robert L. Barner, who raised the amount to $20,000, did not respond to requests for comment.

Police shot Harris about 10:30 a.m. Monday, a half-hour after he opened fire on passersby near the intersection of Orchard Place and Knox Avenue in Knoxville — in the parking lot of a children's center.

Marsha Walters, executive director of Hilltop Community Children's Center, said her staff heard gunshots and saw Harris firing, apparently at random.

She said staffers and children had headed toward a nearby park a few minutes earlier. The employees who heard the gunshots hurried the children along, telling them the sound was firecrackers.

“Thank goodness they walked in the opposite direction, instead of turning around and heading back,” Walters said.

Harris fired more shots a few blocks away, police said, then carjacked a man and took off. He fired on a sheriff's deputy who spotted him and led police down Brownsville Road and Nobles Lane onto Route 51, where he headed north before traffic hemmed him in. He opened fire on police.

Police Chief Cameron McLay did not name officers involved but commended them for handling the shootout in a way that minimized the threat to other drivers.

Tony Raap and Adam Brandolph are Trib Total Media staff writers. Staff writer Megan Guza contributed.