Homicide charges have been filed against a 21-year-old Port Vue man in connection with the shooting death of an 18-year-old pregnant woman and her unborn baby on Washington Avenue in Clairton this past summer. Ja'el Torres was shot and killed early on July 13, along with her unborn daughter, whom she and her boyfriend had already named Jae'lania.
Warrant Requested for Port Vue Man
According to WTAE, Allegheny County Police requested an arrest warrant for Tyjeir Williams-Cunningham, who is wanted on homicide charges as well as homicide of an unborn child. An online docket listed both charges against the 21-year-old, who is from Port Vue. A man who was also shot that night was taken to the hospital in critical condition, the station reported.
The shooting happened at approximately 1:30 a.m. in the 500 block of Washington Avenue, at an apartment complex in Clairton, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Torres was eight months pregnant and due in August. She had celebrated her graduation from McKeesport High School on July 3, just ten days before she was killed, per WPXI. She had wanted to become an orthodontist, and family friend Rakell Greene said she wished Torres had lived to become an adult and a mother.
A Second Fatal Shooting Two Days Later
Two days after Torres was killed, her 18-year-old boyfriend, Jamil Webb-Beasley, the father of her unborn child, was shot and killed near McLean Playground in Homestead, WPXI reported. Calid Pettiford, 21, who was wounded in the chest during the shooting that killed Torres, was later charged in August with attempted homicide in connection with a separate shooting in Duquesne that happened hours earlier, on July 12, after investigators found selfie videos on his phone in which he boasted about that earlier crime, according to the Post-Gazette.
Police have not publicly confirmed whether the Homestead shooting that killed Webb-Beasley or the Duquesne shooting tied to Pettiford share a motive with the killing of Torres, per the same WPXI report. Allegheny County Police issued the homicide warrant against Williams-Cunningham in September.
Community Grief and a Missed Baby Shower
Family and friends gathered on August 1 at a McKeesport cemetery, releasing lanterns and balloons on what had been scheduled as the date of Torres's baby shower, according to CBS News Pittsburgh. The gathering turned what should have been a celebration of new life into a memorial for a mother and daughter who never got the chance to meet.
The case adds to a difficult year for Allegheny County, which had recorded more than 40 homicides by August 2026. Clairton itself has also seen a State Street shooting, including an August arrest tied to a State Street shooting.
What Pennsylvania Law Says About the Charges
Pennsylvania has a Crimes Against the Unborn Child Act, enacted in 1997. Under Pennsylvania Title 18 Section 1102, a conviction for first-degree murder involving an unborn child is subject to the same sentence as first-degree murder of a person already born, except that the death penalty may not be imposed. Williams-Cunningham has not yet been arrested, and it remains unclear whether he faces additional charges tied to the wounding of the second victim at the scene.
