Saying his main rationale to reassure the public that those who murdered five adults and an unborn child at a Wilkinsburg cookout in March are off the streets—and will remain there, Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala has formally indicted Cheron Shelton, 29, and Robert Thomas, 27, on multiple homicide charges.
During a June 23 press conference at county police headquarters, Zappala said the prosecution will be based on the weight of circumstantial evidence including cell phone records, intercepted mail, fingerprints, and surveillance video. According to the Affidavit of Probable Cause, the case will also involve testimony from Allegheny County Jail inmates who spoke with Thomas about aspects of the crime.
This is a circumstantial case. And we don’t usually have a nun as a witness to this kind of crime,” said Zappala.
“I’m disappointed with the lack of community response. This case was developed by the people in this room.”
County Police Superintendent Coleman McDonough added that a $10,000 reward for information in the shootings remains unclaimed, and encouraged anyone with information on Shelton’s and Thomas’ involvement to come forward.
Though he would not discuss the motive for the shootings, Zappala reiterated his contention that the shooters were only after one person, Lamont Powell. According to the affidavit, Powell was a suspect in the 2013 unsolved murder of Calvin Doswell. Doswell and Shelton, it says were best friends.
The affidavit goes on to say that Shelton and Thomas learned Powell was attending the cookout through a friend who’d seen a photo of him at the Franklin Avenue party posted on Facebook. Powell survived the massacre.
“They were looking for him since 2013, and they found him,” said Zappala.
Once they did, around 6 p.m. on March 9, the affidavit says, there was a flurry of phone activity between Shelton and Thomas. At 10:28 that evening, Shelton is seen on surveillance video moving his mother’s white Lincoln Continental outside her house on Nolan Court in North Homewood, then recovering a “long, slender, rigid object that appears to be covered by a piece of clothing.”
“Shelton then got back into the car with the object and drove away,” the affidavit said. At 10:42 the car is seen pulling onto Franklin Street in Wilkinsburg. Multiple time and distance studies conducted by the county indicate the addresses are about 3 miles or 10 minutes apart. There is a 4-minute phone call between the two, and then at 10:53 the shooting began.
When it was over Jerry Shelton, 35, Tina Shelton, 37, Brittany Powell, 27, Shada Mahone, 26, and Chanetta Powell, 25, and her 8-month-old, unborn son were dead.
Much like he did in his impromptu meeting with media at the crime scene on March 10, Zappala said one shooter, now identified as Thomas, entered the yard from the rear and began firing a .40 caliber pistol, herding everyone toward to back porch. The only escape was through the house or via a path around one side—but that’s where Shelton stood with a .762 semi-automatic rifle. All of the victims, including those who were wounded and survived, were shot with the rifle.
“Two gunmen acting in concert undertook this crime. We spent a great deal of time eliminating suspects,” said Zappala. “Given the time frame, we know who these guys were in contact with, and they’ve been vetted. These guys are the only ones involved.”
Shelton—who due to a previous conviction can’t possess firearms—was jailed after a search of the Nolan Court home uncovered various guns and ammunition. On April 1, detectives intercepted a letter he wrote to his girlfriend’s father asking him to do “some real s__t.”
“Round the corner at the Bubble house I got something there that I was workin on getn rid of,” it read. “you don’t got to do nutn but open the door & guide my n___a to it. Its downstairs next to the lawn mowers & ready to be toss.”
Thomas was jailed April 6 on an old drug & weapons charge. According to one jailhouse informant Thomas said he was worried about police getting his DNA from the scene because he has urinated in an old garage with a collapsed roof just before the shooting. Such a garage is located two houses away from the crime scene.
According to the informant, Thomas also said police would need to go “deep sea diving” to find the pistol he used, but that the “chop,” slang for the semi-automatic rifle was still out there.
Although police recovered several guns, ammunition, magazines and even a bulletproof vest in the 35 searches they conducted, none are the murder weapons. Shelton and Thomas remain in the Allegheny County Jail without bond.
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