Three wounded in Arnold shooting
Police still were searching Friday for one of three men wounded in an apparent gunfight in Arnold on Thursday afternoon and for two men involved in another shooting just before 3 p.m. Friday.
According to police, the Thursday incident happened about 5:30 p.m. in the 2000 block of Alcoa Drive in Arnold.
They say it appears a Tarentum man, whose identity police have not released, may have been set up for a robbery.
The man apparently went to an apartment on Alcoa Drive expecting to meet a woman. Instead, police said, he was met by two men with guns. The Tarentum man pulled out his own gun and shots were exchanged.
All three suffered nonlife-threatening wounds.
Arnold police Chief Eric Doutt said the Tarentum man fled in a white SUV with bullet holes in the passenger side.
He was spotted by a Tarentum police officer near Grandview Upper Elementary School and stopped. When it was determined he had suffered gunshot wounds, he was transported to Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh.
At about the same time, Arnold and New Kensington police were pursuing a burgundy Buick seen leaving the shooting scene.
According to Arnold police Sgt. Michael Krahe, that vehicle was driven by a man identified only as “Sosa,” who fled on foot when he crashed the Buick in the 1200 block of Leishman Avenue in New Kensington.
Police found a handgun they say was thrown from the car.
Two women in the car were questioned by police but have not been charged.
A third man, who police identified in a search warrant as Christopher “Cheese” McClinton, 21, of Woodmont Avenue, Arnold, was located when he sought medical treatment at Citizens Ambulatory Care Center in New Kensington.
According to the warrant, he was transported to a Pittsburgh hospital with two gunshot wounds to his upper back and a grazing gunshot wound to his face.
McClinton and the Tarentum man later were treated and released at Allegheny General Hospital.
On Friday, detectives collected evidence from the white SUV as well as the Buick.
Police so far have not filed charges against McClinton, the unnamed Tarentum man, or the third man.
Arnold neighbors said the shooting rattled them.
Milton Obey was outside near the alley by his Alcoa Drive house in Arnold when he heard seven gunshots.
It surprised him. “I've lived here 10 years, and it's been quiet,” he said, shaking his head.
Roseann Bartolacci said she moved to Alcoa Drive from Fifth Avenue in New Kensington to get to a quieter, safer neighborhood.
“This was scary,” she said about hearing gunfire. “I've heard it before, but not here.”
Separate incident
New Kensington police filed gun and drug charges against a man they say was seen with a gun in an alley off McCargo Street just after 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
Devon Lamar O'Neal, 21, of Freeport Street in New Kensington was charged with illegally possessing a handgun, possession of cocaine, escape and related charges.
Police said Friday there was no evidence O'Neal was involved in the earlier Arnold shooting.
He was placed in the Westmoreland County jail in lieu of $75,000 bond pending a Sept. 22 hearing.
Chuck Biedka is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-226-4711 or cbiedka@tribweb.com.
