December 03, 2021 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: Crime and Police News
A Snapchat spokesperson says the company has “zero tolerance” for people who use their mobile-phone app to make violent threats against schools.
However, the company has not explained what steps it is taking to prevent a wave of threats against schools that has swept the United States — and which roiled local districts this week.
The latest Mon-Yough school system affected was Clairton, which moved to online learning on Friday after officials said a threat of violence was made using Snapchat. Police are investigating.
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December 02, 2021 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: Crime and Police News
UPDATED with information about Pittsburgh Public Schools.
UPDATED with quote from Snapchat.
An unidentified student has been charged with making violent threats toward Founders’ Hall Middle School and West Mifflin Area School District, McKeesport police announced Thursday night.
The threats — part of a wave of copy-cat threats that are being made against school districts across the country over the smartphone app Snapchat — caused an increased police presence at McKeesport Area schools, while West Mifflin Area schools suspended in-person classes and canceled after-school activities on Wednesday.
The threats against Founders’ Hall were made Tuesday and Wednesday, said McKeesport police Chief Adam Alfer in a press release. School officials said police searched the building and determined the threats were “unfounded.”
“We take these (threats) very seriously, and the safety of our students and residents is a priority,” Alfer said.
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November 29, 2021 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: Crime and Police News, Port Vue News
Port Vue police are advising borough residents to keep their car doors locked when their vehicles are unattended, and to make sure any door-to-door solicitors are properly registered.
Police Chief David J. Petruski said that during the early morning hours on Monday, someone rifled through unlocked vehicles parked on the street and in driveways. Only one minor theft has been reported so far, he said.
The suspects “are searching through the cars and tossing the contents throughout the inside of the vehicle,” Petruski said in a emailed release.
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November 23, 2021 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News
The suspect in a fatal stabbing at Midtown Plaza Apartments has been arrested and is being held without bond at Allegheny County Jail.
Allegheny County police have charged Damian Baverso, 15, of East McKeesport with criminal homicide and making terroristic threats in connection with the death of 19-year-old Kai Brown on Friday afternoon.
Police allege the stabbing followed a fight after Brown, another man, and Baverso’s ex-girlfriend confronted Baverso over threatening text messages he had sent.
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November 21, 2021 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: Crime and Police News
Damian Baverso (Submitted photo courtesy Allegheny County police)
A 15-year-old from East McKeesport is wanted by Allegheny County police in connection with a fatal stabbing Friday afternoon on Sinclair Street in the city.
Damian Baverso is charged as an adult with criminal homicide and making terroristic threats. Allegheny County police Lt. Venerando Costa said Baverso is known to frequent McKeesport, Oakmont and West Mifflin.
County police allege that Baverso stabbed 19-year-old Kai Brown in the chest at Midtown Plaza Apartments just before 3:30 p.m. on Friday. Brown was pronounced dead approximately an hour later at UPMC McKeesport hospital, according to the Allegheny County medical examiner’s office.
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November 16, 2021 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News
A 44-year-old man is being questioned by Allegheny County police in connection with a stabbing inside a home on Garbett Street in McKeesport.
McKeesport police and paramedics were dispatched to a home in the 3100 block just before 5 p.m. Tuesday, Allegheny County police said. Emergency personnel said they found a 39-year-old man who had been stabbed multiple times in the back.
The victim was transported by ambulance to a Pittsburgh trauma center, emergency personnel said.
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November 10, 2021 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News
An Elizabeth man has been sentenced to three years’ probation and $1,425.95 in restitution after pleading guilty to vandalizing railroad signals in Port Vue and Braddock.
William C. Brown IV, 28, was sentenced Nov. 4 by U.S. District Court Judge Donetta Ambrose in Pittsburgh on federal charges of terroristic attacks and violence against a railroad and a mass transportation carrier.
Prosecutors noted that the affected tracks carry both CSX freight trains as well as Amtrak passenger trains, and said the vandalism could have had “catastrophic consequences.”
Court documents indicate that Brown and an alleged accomplice were railroad buffs who had known each other since childhood, and were fascinated by trains — and train derailments.
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November 08, 2021 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News
A McKeesport police officer and another motorist were injured when their cars collided at the intersection of Versailles and Union avenues on Monday morning.
City police Chief Adam Alfer said an officer, whose name has not yet been released, was responding to a structure fire on Olive Street when his squad car collided with a vehicle driven by a female motorist in her 40s or 50s.
The accident happened just after 10:30 a.m.
The crash remains under investigation and a report was not yet complete on Monday, Alfer said. The squad car did have its warning lights and siren activated at the time of the crash, he said.
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November 07, 2021 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: Crime and Police News
County detectives used cell phone records to track the accused killer of Karli Short to her Christy Park neighborhood at the time police believe she was murdered, affidavits state.
Isaac C. Smith, 25, of McKeesport is being held without bond in the Allegheny County Jail pending a preliminary hearing Nov. 24 before Magisterial District Judge Kim Berkeley Clark.
Smith is charged by Allegheny County police with homicide and homicide of an unborn child in connection with the Sept. 13 death of Short, 26, who had worked at a personal care home and did catering on the side. Smith was arrested Friday in Pleasant Hills.
County police and family said that Smith was the father of Short’s unborn baby boy, who was due in February 2022. Detectives called the slaying “pre-planned.”
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November 06, 2021 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News
A city man has been charged in connection with the death Sept. 13 of the mother of his unborn child.
Isaac Smith, 25, is being held in the Allegheny County Jail on homicide charges after being arrested in Pleasant Hills on Friday night on a warrant obtained by the Allegheny County district attorney’s office.
Bail and arraignment information were not immediately available on Saturday morning.
Smith is accused in the death of Karli Short, 26, of Christy Park, who was found dead of a gunshot wound at her home on 25th Avenue just after 10:30 that morning. Short was five months pregnant with her first child at the time, family members said.
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