Police: Man wanted in alleged Northview Heights ambush shooting arrested in Wilkinsburg

A fugitive task force on Tuesday arrested a man wanted in connection with an alleged ambush shooting that killed a man in Pittsburgh’s Northview Heights neighborhood in August, authorities said.

Authorities took Maurice White Jr., 19, into custody about 8 a.m. at a home in Wilkinsburg, according to Pittsburgh Public Safety spokesman Maurice Matthews.

White is charged in connection with the Aug. 23 death of 56-year-old Kenneth A. Wilson. Court records show homicide charges were filed against White on Dec. 2, at which time homicide charges were also filed against Taelaun Claybourne, 19, and Lamearion Howard, 18.

The shooting that killed Wilson happened about 9:45 p.m. Police responded to a ShotSpotter alert and found Wilson suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.

Police wrote in the complaint that a security camera captured the shooting. The footage showed three men walk from a wooded area along Lamar Street and toward the area where Wilson would later be found, according to the complaint.

The three men allegedly ran up to Wilson as he walked along Penfort Street and all opened fire “without provocation,” according to the complaint. Initially, they wrote, one man ran up and shot Wilson at close range. Wilson is seen falling to the ground, and the other two men come over and shoot him several times as he is on the ground.

Footage showed the men run back toward the wooded area, police said.

According to the complaint, security footage from earlier in the night showed a white Kia SUV making a U-turn at the dead end of Lamar Street just before the ShotSpotter alert. Investigators said the vehicle was seen several more times in the next several minutes.

A white Kia matching the vehicle’s description was seen near the scene of a shooting in Mount Oliver the following night, police said. The vehicle’s registration led investigators to a woman police identified only as Witness 1.

The witness told police she’d driven three men around the night of both the homicide and the Mt. Oliver shooting, though only one man participated in both, according to the complaint. She said the night of the killing, she drove the men to Lamar Street and waited in the car. Police said the witness reported the men got out with guns then ran back a short time later.

The witness identified the men as “Fat Mo,” “Mearo” and “Taeskee,” according to the complaint, indicating that Fat Mo was the only man involved in both the homicide and the shooting.

Detectives were able to identify Fat Mo as White, Mearo as Howard and Claybourne as Taeskee, according to the complaint.

Court records show Howard was arrested Dec. 15 and indicate Claybourne is not in custody. Neither Howard nor White were listed as having attorneys.