Kinloch neighbors say Saturday’s triple shooting out of character for Lower Burrell
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Teddy Hare has lived most of his his life in a home along Pittsburgh Street in Lower Burrell that’s in eyesight of the Kinloch fire hall.
When he spotted police lights in the club’s parking lot on Saturday evening, he assumed it was just another speeding driver who got pulled over on Route 366.
“I didn’t think anything of it,” said Hare, 83. “But, then, more and more cops and ambulances started showing up, so I figured something bigger was going on.”
Hare said it didn’t take long for news to spread in the tight-knit community that the heavy public safety response was for a shooting.
“I was shocked when I heard what it was about,” he said. “I honestly don’t ever recall anything like that happening around here.”
An Arnold man is accused of opening fire with a 9mm handgun during a baby shower for his unborn child, according to Lower Burrell police.
Isiah J. Hampton, 25, of Victoria Avenue was arrested within minutes of allegedly shooting three people, according to Lower Burrell police Chief John Marhefka, who said Hampton left the fire department with the mother of his unborn child after the incident.
Hampton is charged with shooting a 23-year-old man in the torso, a 19-year-old woman in the leg and a 16-year-old boy in the buttocks, according to a criminal complaint filed to support the charges.
Two of the victims were taken to Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh and the other to Allegheny Health Network’s Forbes Hospital in Monroeville for treatment of nonlife-threatening injuries, the police chief said.
Police said the shooting stemmed from an argument Hampton got into with a woman who wanted him to transport gifts from the baby shower, according to a criminal complaint.
Hampton became abusive toward the woman, who then slapped him, prompting Hampton to shove her backwards, police said.
Three men intervened to try to stop Hampton, who fell to the ground, police said.
During the struggle Hampton pulled out a pistol and shot the man in torso and then the teenage boy in the buttocks, according to the complaint.
When others tried to wrestle the gun from Hampton, the weapon went off and a different woman was grazed in the leg by a bullet.
Bystanders eventually got the gun from Hampton and place it on the bar until police arrived, according to the complaint.
Matthew George, 47, whose house is several hundred feet away from the social club, said he thought the police activity Saturday was in for a traffic accident along the nearby highway.
He said he was surprised it was, in fact, for a multiple shooting incident.
“The first thing that came to mind when I heard it was a shooting is: ‘Who the heck brings a piece to a baby shower?’” said George, who has lived in the neighborhood since he was 13.
George said a full parking lot is typically the only sign that there’s an event being held at the club.
“Of course, nothing was going on there during the pandemic, but before that you might hear some music if there was a band playing, but other than that I’ve never seen or heard any problems there,” he said. “There certainly hasn’t been anything like what happened on Saturday night.”
Hampton was charged by Lower Burrell police with two counts of aggravated assault and one count of recklessly endangering another person.
He is in the Westmoreland County Prison in lieu of $250,000 bond and faces a preliminary Sept. 28 hearing before District Judge Cheryl Peck Yakopec.