Passersby ignore Homestead shooting victim

Police and relatives of a man gunned down on a Homestead street expressed shock and disgust that six people walked past the fallen victim on the sidewalk early Tuesday but didn't stop or call police.

Residents along West Sylvan Street later told police they heard as many as six shots fired just after midnight, but no one called police at the time, said Homestead police Chief Jeffrey DeSimone.

At least six people told police they passed Broque Adams' body on the sidewalk, but didn't summon authorities because they "didn't want to get involved," DeSimone said.

"This is completely absurd," DeSimone said. "It's awful enough to have someone shoot and kill someone else, but to just let him lie there and walk around him is completely insane.

"This apathetic attitude has got to stop. What has society come to?"

Just before 3 a.m., a passerby recognized Adams and called his mother. Judy Adams and her daughter Maya Adams, who live nearby, walked to West Sylvan Street and found the 22-year-old man's body.

"They shot my son and left him there like garbage," Judy Adams said. "He wasn't perfect, but he had a good heart. Why didn't anyone try to help him, or call an ambulance or call the police• This didn't have to happen."

Broque Adams died of a gunshot in the back of the head, but it is not clear whether he died instantly, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office said.

DeSimone said Adams visited family members in the area Monday evening and left his mother's home just after midnight. Police believe he was shot moments later but haven't determined a motive for the shooting or identified suspects.

Carnegie Mellon University criminology professor Al Blumstein said the reluctance of witnesses to call police when they discovered Adams' body might be another example of the "stop snitching" phenomenon that has taken hold in recent years.

"There are pockets of society where it is strongly encouraged that you have no involvement with the police whatsoever, even including giving information about a body lying in the street," Blumstein said.

Maya Adams said her brother was working to earn his GED and hoped to take classes at Community College of Allegheny County. He loved the Dallas Cowboys and doted on his 9-month-old nephew.

"Everyone in Homestead knew my brother, and there was no reason to leave him lying there like that. My mom had to go find him and call police," she said.

"These people who kept walking, I want them to go look their own mothers in the eye and think about how my mom feels. They'll have to deal with God."

Gerry Magill, a Duquesne University ethicist, said the unwillingness of witnesses to call police when they heard shots and discovered Adams' body speaks to serious problems in society.

"The people that walked past him, did they even know for sure he was dead?" Magill said. "What if there was a chance for survival, and they ignored him• Community compassion and solidarity are the backbone of any great society, and it speaks very poorly of us that neither of those things were on display in this case."

Additional Information:

To help

Anyone with information about the slaying of Broque Adams should call Allegheny County police homicide at 412-473-1300.