1 Suspect Arrested, 3 More Sought In Shooting Death Of Robbery Victim In Homestead
By: KDKA-TV News Staff
HOMESTEAD (KDKA) -- Police have arrested a 19-year-old suspect in the beating and shooting death of a man in Homestead last summer.
Munhall officers arrested Enrique Johnson on Monday evening.
He is charged with criminal homicide, robbery, conspiracy and other counts.
Johnson, 19, of Homestead, is one of four men accused in the beating and armed robbery of 65-year-old Anthony Colizza on the night of July 19, police said.
Colizza died at the hospital after being beaten, robbed and shot while walking on West Street at 11th Avenue, investigators said.
A criminal complaint alleges Johnson conspired to commit the robbery with three other males who investigators are working to identify.
"They need to be taken off the street and I think everyone around will feel a lot more comfortable with that," said Cory Van Lieu, who lives right across the street from Colizza's house on West 11th Avenue, not far from where he was attacked.
"I just remember that he was a very friendly guy, never bothered anyone, he always minded his own business. He was a good neighbor, never had any trouble out of him," said Van Lieu.
According to the criminal complaint, a resident's surveillance camera captured Colizza walking with a female friend on West Street when he was jumped from behind, beat by four males and then shot.
"It's kind of scary. I think if I would have known there were people running around here like that, just taking someone's life for whatever reason, I probably would have reconsidered moving to this area," the neighbor said.
On the night of the robbery, Homestead police found Colizza with a gunshot wound to the chest. The criminal complaint said Colizza told officers the suspects stole a gun he legally owned. The 65-year-old later died in the hospital.
"It was very sad and tragic what happened to him, and he definitely didn't deserve it," said Van Lieu.
According to the criminal complaint, Johnson was arrested on firearms charges after a traffic stop in August. The complaint said detectives searched his cell phone and that's when they found text messages and photos that linked him to the deadly robbery, including photos of a firearm police believed was the gun stolen from Colizza the night of the robbery
Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call the Allegheny County Police Tip line at 1-833-ALL-TIPS.