Hearing postponed for teen charged in drive-by that preceded Antwon Rose shooting

Megan Guza
Friday, July 6, 2018 4:36 p.m. | Friday, July 6, 2018 4:36 p.m.

Tribune-Review

This still image taken from security footage allegedly shows Zaijuan Hester, 17, in the backseat of a jitney on June 19, 2018. Hester is alleged to have shot at someone from the backseat while Antwon Rose, 17, sat in the front passenger seat. The drive-by shooting preceded the shooting of Rose by East Pittsburgh police officer Michael Rosfeld.

The preliminary hearing for the alleged shooter in the drive-by shooting that preceded the police shooting of Antwon Rose has been postponed.

Zaijuan Hester, 17, is charged with attempted homicide and aggravated assault in the June 19 North Braddock shooting that happened minutes before East Pittsburgh officer Michael Rosfeld opened fired on Rose as he ran from a felony traffic stop.

The hearing was set for Friday but was postponed until July 27 at the request of Hester's defense attorney, Anne Marie Mancuso.

The North Braddock shooting occurred shortly before 8:30 p.m. on Kirkpatrick Avenue. A 22-year-old man wounded in that shooting was treated and released from a hospital for a graze wound to the abdomen.

Hester was allegedly a backseat passenger in a jitney that he and Rose had hired to take them from Hawkins Village in Rankin to Grandview Avenue in East Pittsburgh, according to the criminal complaint filed against Hester.

Here's surveillance footage from the North Braddock shooting scene (which led to #AntwonRose shooting). Shows rear window come down and individual in a dark shirt open fire. DA says Rose was wearing a white shirt and seated in the passenger seat. pic.twitter.com/nPkNIlRxQJ

— Megan Guza (@meganguzaTrib) June 27, 2018

The jitney driver told detectives that when they slowed at a stop sign near the intersection of Baldridge and Jones avenues in North Braddock, he heard the back passenger ask, "Is that him?" according to the complaint.

The same backseat passenger then fired at a man, who returned fire from the street, detectives wrote. The driver said that the shots definitely came from the rear passenger seat.

Rosfeld initiated a traffic stop on the Chevy Cruze about 8:40 p.m. after suspecting it to be involved in the earlier shooting, which had been broadcast over police radio. As he ordered the driver to the ground, Rose and Hester ran from the scene.

Rosfeld fired three shots, hitting Rose in the face, elbow and back. He died a short time later. Rose, 17, was unarmed but had an empty handgun magazine in his pocket.

Megan Guza is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach her at 412-380-8519, mguza@tribweb.com or via Twitter @meganguzaTrib.

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