Suspected target of Wilkinsburg shootings arrested on warrant in unrelated case
The man believed to be the intended target of a shooting in Wilkinsburg that killed six people in March was arrested Tuesday in Pittsburgh on a bench warrant issued by a Washington County judge.
Allegheny County Sheriff Bill Mullen said the department’s fugitive unit apprehended Lamont Powell, 24, about 8:30 a.m. in the North Side neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Powell was placed initially in Allegheny County jail and was transferred Tuesday to Washington County jail.
Mullen said deputies made the arrest based on a tip from an informant.
Washington County Judge Valarie Costanzo issued a warrant June 28 following Powell’s failure to appear for a nonjury trial that day. Powell faces drug charges in Washington County stemming from a 2014 traffic stop near the Beau Street interchange of Interstate 70 and 79 in South Strabane Township in which state police allegedly found marijuana in a vehicle he was driving.
Costanzo’s office said Powell will appear before the judge for a bench warrant hearing within 72 hours of when he was detained.
Powell was injured in the March 9 shooting at a cookout in Wilkinsburg that also killed a pregnant woman, her unborn child and four other adults.
Police filed homicide and other charges against Cheron Shelton, 29, and Robert Thomas, 27, last month in connection with the mass shooting.
Authoritiessaid they believe Powell – who was suspected in the 2013 killing of Shelton’s friend Calvin Doswell – was the target of the alleged gunmen. Powell was never charged in Doswell’s death.