Woman, 54, Killed In North Side Shooting
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NORTH SIDE (KDKA) -- Neighbors are still disturbed and a killer's at large after a woman was gunned down and killed late Saturday night on the North Side.
Police searched all day Sunday for the gunman. At one point, they could be seen on a Troy Hill street with weapons drawn.
Pittsburgh Police with guns drawn around 7:30 p.m. Sunday were screaming for a suspect to come out of a home in Troy Hill on Pittsburgh's North Side. The area near Lowrie and Ley streets was an active police scene for several hours while officers questioned a homeowner. Neighbors could overhear police asking about a black extended cab pickup truck with Texas plates and the man driving that truck.
Police communications chatter broadcast by Broadcastify identify the description of a truck allegedly connected with the disturbing deadly shooting of 54-year-old Vera Williams Butler, who was found suffering from multiple gunshot wounds in the 200 block of Luray Street around 11:20 p.m. Saturday. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Neighbor Harold Neal Jr. says not only has he seen Butler with the man driving a truck fitting that description, they saw her get out of that car Saturday night seconds before the shooting.
"I really heard the shots, but I didn't see it. I walked up my steps, sat down to eat and I heard three shots and at that time, I got up to see what was happening outside and I see somebody hollering and screaming and somebody jumped into a truck and left," Neal said.
KDKA's Pam Surano Reports:
Horrified neighbors, some who were just coming out of their homes for the first time Sunday, were sick and upset to see blood splatters on their cars.
Neighbors say Butler was a kindhearted woman who walked her dog, played with her grandchildren and took care of an older man inside her home who suffered a stroke.
Neal said Butler was often seen with a boyfriend that drove a black pickup truck and many times, they were arguing.
Neal says they are heartsick and no one expected this to happen.
"At that time, I didn't... I thought it may be fireworks, but it was too close. I knew they were shots, but I was hoping nobody got hurt," Neal said. "I thought maybe someone was mad and just shooting up in the air. Unfortunately, it wasn't that."
Another neighbor on Luray Street said they had a security camera perched outside their home and that camera caught some of what happened on the street outside. That footage has been turned over to City Police.
As for the pickup truck that was seen at the shooting and the home in Troy Hill, it was found by police on Lamar Street in Northview Heights on Sunday night.