After weeks of praying for answers and an arrest in the shooting death of Kevin Buchanan Jr., his family is now finding peace since the arrest of the shooter Saturday, May 26.
“We are elated and thankful to God. We can get some kind of closure and it means we can begin to heal,” said Charisse Buchanan, aunt of Kevin Buchanan. “There’s not a day that goes by that we (the family) do not think of Kevin. It is still not over, but we see the future a little bit clearer each day.”
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| KEVIN BUCHANAN and RONALD WILLIAMS
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Kevin Buchanan, 19, was found April 2 in the doorway of a home in the 1500 block of Conway Street, in Arlington, with a gunshot wound to the chest. He was taken to UPMC Presbyterian Hospital, where he later died.
After several weeks, Pittsburgh police arrested Robert Williams, 19, also of Arlington, and charged him with homicide.
Charisse Buchanan said her family was told that it was an accidental shooting that Williams had been playing with the gun and it went off, but she said her and her family do not believe that. “When it is an accident you come forward,” she said.
She said now her family is looking toward the trial and moving forward. “Kevin did not deserve this. He was a loving and caring person. I love my nephew and miss him a lot, but now he can rest. I promised him in his casket that I would never let this go,” she said.
Just a week before William’s arrest, Kevin Buchanan’s friends and family held a vigil and peace march in his honor.
As for the violence in the community, Charisse Buchanan said it has to stop. “This is not normal, for parents to bury their child. My prayer is that they put the guns down and walk away. Put down the guns and live, because there is so much life to live. This is an epidemic. This is like a major disease spreading across our community,” she said.
Charisse Buchanan said she and her family would like to thank the detectives who worked on her nephew’s case. “They were great, they put in overtime and they never gave up,” she said.
But while one family is beginning the healing process, another is still mourning.
A student who was shot last Thursday while home from college on summer break has died.
Marshawn Ptomey, 19, of McKees Rocks, was shot May 24 at a home in the 300 block of Russellwood Avenue, in McKees Rocks, after an altercation. Destiny Brown, 17, reportedly shot Ptomey in the head after he allegedly pushed her. Ptomey was taken to Allegheny General Hospital, where he died two days later.
Brown has been charged with homicide, aggravated assault, firearms violations and more.
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