Search on for victim in Wilkinsburg shooting
The man authorities believe may have been the intended target of a mass shooting in Wilkinsburg failed to appear before a Washington County judge on drug charges in a separate case.
Judge Valarie Costanzo signed a bench warrant Tuesday after Lamont Powell, 24, failed to appear in court for a nonjury trial on charges stemming from a traffic stop near the Beau Street interchange of Interstate 70 in South Strabane Township.
State police charged Powell in January 2015 with possessing a small amount of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, driving under the influence of a controlled substance and driving with a suspended or revoked license.
A state trooper said in court papers he was directing traffic near an accident on the westbound side of I-70 at the Beau Street exit on Dec. 15, 2014.
The trooper directed Powell, driving a silver Cadillac, to pull over when he reportedly smelled marijuana coming from the vehicle as Powell and two passengers waited with other cars to get on the interstate.
A sample of Powell’s blood taken at Washington Hospital later tested positive for marijuana, and baggies of suspected marijuana were found in the car, police said.
Powell was one of three people wounded in the March 9 ambush that also killed six people, including a pregnant woman and her unborn child, gathered at a backyard barbecue.
Two men – Cheron Shelton, 29, and Robert Thomas, 27 – were charged June 23 in connection with the shooting. Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala Jr. said last week Shelton blamed Powell for the 2013 killing of Shelton’s friend Calvin Doswell.
Powell has never been charged in the Doswell case. Police have called him a suspect.
Powell’s is listed in the 2015 criminal complaint as living in Charleroi. He gave a Pittsburgh address in a motion he filed in April to vacate a previous bench warrant when he previously failed to make an appearance before Costanzo, saying he failed to show up because he was in court in Allegheny County.
Court papers don’t list an attorney for Powell in the drug case.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.