'I Cannot Sleep': Steven Eason's Family Asking Community For Help Solving Teen's Fatal Shooting At Haunted Hills Hayride
GREEN TREE, Pa. (KDKA) -- The family of Steven Eason, the teen shot and killed at Haunted Hills Hayride last month, is pleading with the community for help in solving the case.
"I cannot sleep. It's hard to sleep, get any rest when my son is gone," Shantel Pizaro said Friday morning outside of Allegheny County Police Headquarters.
Pizaro was emotional as Eason's father, Steven Sr., stood by her side with other family members behind her and detectives in the background.
Eason's father called his son "one of the sweetest boys I know."
Investigators said around 50 to 100 people were at Haunted Hills Hayride in North Versailles when the shooting happened between the ticket booth and red barn on the evening of Sept. 11.
According to police, 15-year-old Eason saw a fight break out and tried to break it up. That's when he was shot and killed. Another teen was injured in the shooting.
"I wouldn't wish that on anyone. It's terrible," Pizaro said.
FULL COVERAGE:
- Friends, Family Hold Funeral Service For 15-Year-Old Steven Eason And Call For Justice
- Balloon Release Held For Steven Eason, The 15-Year-Old Central Catholic Student Shot And Killed At Haunted Hills Hayride
- Search Continues For Suspect In Deadly Haunted Hills Hayride Shooting
- 'It Was An Awful Sight:' Allegheny Police Asking For Public's Help In Saturday's Shooting In North Versailles
- 'A Blessing To Have At Central Catholic:' Central Catholic Community Remembers 15-Year-Old Killed At Haunted Hills Hayride
Eason's family is now pleading with anyone who witnessed the incident to come forward.
"Talk to your children, come forward with anything they may know," Pizaro said. "If you guys have any cell phone video or photos from the evening, please come forward to the Allegheny County Police. Any little bit helps. Anything from that night. You may see someone in the background that may not have been with your group of people. Anything, anything you have from that evening will help."
Pizaro says part of her pain is knowing her son's twin sister will now have to celebrate her milestone 16th birthday without her brother.
"[She] no longer has her twin by her side," she said.
Pizaro said her son, who was a Central Catholic High School student, had big plans for his future. He was planning on getting a job at the neighborhood Taco Bell in Penn Hills and wanted to go to Slippery Rock University to study business.
"He was learning responsibility. He was excited about his future. He has so many goals. He was a child with so much passion and dreams to look forward to," Pizaro said.
She went on to say that her family is finding it hard to heal while her son's killer remains free.
"It's hard to be able to heal. I can't even start my healing process when the person who did this to my son is still walking freely," Pizaro said.
Steven Sr. said his son was the kind of kid who had no enemies.
"His friends love him. His family loves him. I really don't know who didn't love him," he said.
Police have described the suspect as a Black teenager between the ages of 15-17 with short hair, between 5'9" and 6'0", wearing dark blue cargo shorts and a black backpack.
"He/she does not deserve to be free," Pizaro said.
She is asking parents who had children at the hayride attraction the night of the shooting to talk to them and she is pleading for the suspect to come forward on their own.
"To the person who did this – come forward. Something like this has to be eating you alive," she said. "No one who has a heart can do something like this and not have it play in the back of their mind, you hurt a lot of people. It's not right, not okay, don't continue down this path of destruction; you're hurting yourself."