Evans City Woman Shot by Pellet Gun in Hill District

Pittsburgh police today arrested five teenagers who used a pellet gun to shoot an Evans City woman in the knee while she was riding her bike from the Hill District to downtown.

Police are not releasing the name of the 50-year-old woman. Officers said she was standing with her bicycle at the intersection of 5th and Pride Street around 6 a.m. when she heard someone shout “yo-yo” and felt a sharp pain in her right knee.

The woman and another person standing near her told police they heard a popping sound coming from a four-door gray car before it drove away. The woman is in stable condition after being treated for her injury at UPMC Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh, police said.

A short time later, police said a 60-year-old man told officers the occupants of a gray car shot at him with a pellet gun while he was on Bedford Avenue.

Patrolling officers found a car fitting the description parked on the 400 block Kirkpatrick Street. Inside the car was a pellet gun, a BB air pistol, BB pellets and other ammunition.

Hill district residents Brandon Johnson and Victor Pennix, both 19, are charged with possession of instruments of crime, aggravated assault, conspiracy, reckless endangerment, and discharging a firearm or air gun.

A 17-year-old from McKees Rocks, a 17-year-old from Pittsburgh, and a 16-year-old from the Hill District also were arrested and taken to Shuman Juvenile Detention Center. They are charged as juveniles with the same crimes.