Second shooting death of teen Downtown this year
“We want our youth to get involved, and be able to take advantageof the programs that are available to them, because there isso much for them. The sky is the limit.”
REV. DOROTHY STUBBS
PASTOR, NEW EVANGELISTIC MINISTRIES
In between the Saturday, June 13, fun and excitement of the Three Rivers Arts Festival, and the fun and excitement of its closing day, Sunday, June 14, tragedy struck.
A 17-year-old, Alijah Thomas-Hayden, was shot and killed, police allege, by a 15-year-old, Riley Doubt. The shooting happened following a brief altercation at Katz Plaza, which is one block away from Arts Landing, the new park that housed the Three Rivers Arts Festival this year. The shooting happened at 12:15 a.m. Sunday, June 14, just a few hours after the Arts Festival wrapped up on Saturday, and about eight or nine hours before the festivities were to resume.
About a month ago, on May 12, 19-year-old Terryll Little was shot and killed in Market Square, Downtown, police allege, by a 16-year-old. Thus, the shooting death of another teenager in Downtown, Thomas-Hayden, in the face of numerous forums and meetings and policies and discussions, has been front-page news since it happened.
PITTSBURGH PUBLIC SAFETY DIRECTOR SHELDON WILLIAMS.
Sheldon Williams is the City of Pittsburgh’s Public Safety Director. On June 5, Williams spoke exclusively with the New Pittsburgh Courier to discuss the issue of teen violence happening Downtown, a place where people of all ages and ethnicities gather daily.
“I want to let people know that the youth are a part of our community,” Williams said. “We want to make sure that we have spaces and places they can go and be with their friends and do the things they like to do. With that said, there has to be some commitment from our community and the city to make sure that we have these spaces for our youth.”
Williams continued: “I want to know what it is that the youth actually want, so we have to provide some of those opportunities to hear from them. That’s what my administration is doing as well—it’s not about just problem-solving to try to push youth out, it’s how do we make it inclusive so youth can be part of our community.”
LEE DAVIS has been a community advocate in the fight to stop youth violence in Pittsburgh for decades.
Khari Mosley, Pittsburgh City Councilman, has told local media outlets in Pittsburgh that actions such as a teen curfew might have to come into play if violent actions involving teens continues in Downtown and other parts of the city. So far, though, Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O’Connor isn’t speaking those words.
But the issue about teens, teens Downtown, teens in East Liberty, etc., isn’t going away. Mayor O’Connor told the Courier and other media outlets that the city’s “Learn & Earn” program, where teens ages 14-23 can work a summer job in the city and Allegheny County, has been extended to a year-round program, thanks to funding from The RK Mellon Foundation. The mayor called the idea of teens working year-round a way of bringing more financial stability into some households, as well as giving them something productive to do and look forward to throughout the year.
What are other ways to keep the youth involved in positive activities?
“We’re working on a program to extend hours at all of our rec centers and bring opportunity directly into neighborhoods at those rec centers,” Mayor O’Connor told the Courier exclusively, June 5. “Bringing the great art and culture that we have here directly to our youth at those rec centers. Taking in local artists, having them in our rec center on a Thursday night, teaching young people about how they got into it and telling those stories.”
Unfortunately, teens have been victims of gun violence over the past week and a half in the Pittsburgh area. On Saturday, June 13, police in Penn Hills responded to multiple shots fired at a pool party involving teens and young adults on Twin Oak Drive, at the Olympic Swim Club. One person was shot.
On Monday, June 8, a 17-year-old girl was shot in the leg in Clairton following an argument.
On Sunday, June 14, a teen was shot along James Street in Turtle Creek. As of press time, there was no word on the age of the teen.
Also on Sunday, June 14, a teen and an adult were involved in a dispute in Swissvale, and when another man intervened, he was shot, police allege, by the first adult male. The teen in that incident was not injured.
New Evangelistic Ministries Pastor Dorothy Stubbs spoke with the Courier exclusively on Tuesday, June 16, about the recent violence involving teens.
“We want our youth to get involved, and be able to take advantage of the programs that are available to them, because there is so much for them,” she said. “The sky is the limit. I had to go to school for my master’s. They don’t have to go to school. They have everything at their fingertips. Take advantage of it. They have AI (artificial intelligence), they have Google…It’s still half of the year left, there’s still time left to be able to finish strong…Get involved. There are people that want to help you.”
And Pastor Stubbs’ message to parents of teens?
“You’re either part of the problem or part of the solution. What you gonna do, mom, dad, aunt, uncle? Pick one. Because both of them won’t work. You’re either part of the problem or the solution.”
REV. EILEEN SMITH is the executive director of the South Pittsburgh Coalition for Peace, which aims to prevent violence among youth in Pittsburgh’s southern neighborhoods.