Antwon Rose, the unarmed 17-year-old boy fatally shot by Officer Michael Rosfeld in East Pittsburgh, was not involved in an earlier drive-by shooting in neighboring North Braddock, Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala said. Rosfeld was charged June 27 with criminal homicide, eight days after Rose was fatally shot in the back while running away from a traffic stop. Zappala said the shooting was not justified.
Rosfeld pulled over the car Rose was in on the night of June 19 because it matched the description of a vehicle used just minutes earlier in a shooting in a neighboring town, North Braddock, authorities have said. As Rosfeld took the driver into custody, Rose and another passenger fled from the car. Video recorded by a witness shows Rosfeld opening fire and shooting Rose. The teen, who lives in Rankin, was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 9:19 p.m., the Allegheny County Police Department said in a press release. The shooting happened in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a borough of about 2,000 residents in Allegheny County that is 15 minutes outside of the city of Pittsburgh. The incident began with another shooting in neighboring North Braddock, according to police.
“By all accounts, Mr. Rose never did anything in furtherance of any crimes in North Braddock,” Zappala said at a press conference. He said he did not fire a gun.
Zappala said there is video surveillance of the North Braddock shooting. He said there were three people in the car, a driver, a passenger in the front seat and a passenger in the back of the car. The rear window comes down, a handgun goes out and shots are fired. A man who was not the intended target returned fire and the back window of the car Rose was in was shot out, Zappala said. He said the shooter in that incident is believed to be 17-year-old Zaijuan Hester, who fled from the scene of the traffic stop after Rose was shot and was later arrested.
The car Hester and Rose were in when the shooting occurred was driven by a “jitney,” driver, an unlicensed cab or Uber, Zappala said. “He’s very forthcoming, of course he’s looking at driving someone to the scene of the shooting, that’s criminal implication, so he was very forthcoming,” Zappala said of the driver. He was released from custody after being arrested at the scene of the traffic stop.
Rosfeld, 30, was placed on leave after the June 19 shooting. He turned himself in early Wednesday morning and made his first court appearance for his arraignment before being released on $250,000 unsecured bond, WPXI-TV reports.
The Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement it argued against bail. “On the issue of bail, our office argued vigorously against the setting of bail citing both the Pennsylvania State Constitution and statute which indicates that persons charged with a crime that can result in life in prison are not entitled to bail. We believe the Magisterial District Judges ruling on bail was improper but we do not plan on contesting it at this time,” the statement said.
The case was investigated by the Allegheny County Police Department, which turned over its findings to Allegheny County District attorney, Stephen Zappala. Online records show Rosfeld was charged with criminal homicide. You can read the criminal complaint filed against him below:
Rosfeld told detectives he began the “felony traffic” stop procedure before his backup arrived and without knowing how far away they were. He said during his interview that as he was ordering the driver to get on the ground, he saw the front seat passenger exit the vehicle. Rosfeld told detectives the passenger had his hand turned toward him and he saw something dark, which he perceived as a gun. Rosfeld told detectives that caused him to step from behind the cover of his car to get a better view. He said he then fired his weapon as another person fled from the car.
“At the conclusion of Rosfeld’s statement, the detectives asked him to go over the sequence of events one more time. During that rendition, Rosfeld told the detectives that he did not see a gun when the passenger emerged and ran. When confronted with his inconsistency, Rosfeld stated that he saw something in the passenger’s hand but was not sure what it was. In addition, Officer Rosfeld states that he was not certain if the individual who had his arm pointed at him was still pointing at him when he fired the shots,” the criminal complaint says.
