A man was injured in a shooting in Pittsburgh's Brookline neighborhood yesterday afternoon, according to local police. The incident occurred around 4 p.m. on Brookline Boulevard near Flatbush Avenue, leaving the victim with two gunshot wounds to the abdomen. Officers responded to the scene, where an off-duty medic and firefighter, already attending to the victim, were later joined by a Good Samaritan. CBS News Pittsburgh reported that the man, taken to the hospital in serious but stable condition, was attended by Cesar Rivera, who realized the severity of the situation from his store and rushed out to provide aid.
In search of the suspects, two juveniles seen fleeing up Flatbush Avenue, police blocked off a stretch of Brookline Boulevard to gather evidence. Found to be homeless and recently released from jail, the victim is a known figure in the area. Nearby, a gray Toyota Corolla showed signs of having been hit by a bullet in front of businesses. Meanwhile, a neighborhood watch group known as "Boulevard Bouncers" is forming under the initiative of a local business owner to escalate matters to the community and a dedicated police officer, a mission shared by Tom Swartz of Steel City Craft Emporium. "We are going to have QR in the windows so that people won't get involved they can just scan the QR code report it to me upload any pictures everything gets sent over to the commander," Swartz said, per CBS News Pittsburgh.
Traffic along Brookline Boulevard was diverted for over an hour as detectives conducted their investigation, reported by TribLIVE. They have yet to identify the shooting victim publicly and are looking into the circumstances that led to the incident. A coffee shop, 802 Bean, was near a vehicle that exhibited bullet damage. Details of the shooter or the motive behind the act remain uncertain.
