Two men showed up at Allegheny General Hospital in separate cars late Friday night after gunfire broke out near Brighton Road and Woods Run Avenue on Pittsburgh's North Side, right on the border between Brighton Heights and Marshall-Shadeland. One man had been shot in the leg, while the other had been grazed by bullets in the head and hand. Both were reported to be in stable condition, and no arrests had been made as investigators worked to piece together what happened.
According to WTAE, witnesses told police a group of men had been fighting shortly before the shots rang out. The station said authorities received reports of gunfire near the intersection but had not identified any suspects as of Friday night. Pittsburgh Police records show the call came in just before 11:30 p.m. Friday, after the city's gunshot-detection system registered two separate ShotSpotter alerts totaling four rounds, according to the City of Pittsburgh Public Safety Department. That means the automated acoustic system flagged the gunfire before either victim reached the hospital.
Evidence Collected, Investigation Handed to Violent Crime Detectives
Pittsburgh Police Mobile Crime Unit officers recovered shell casings and other physical evidence at the intersection, and the department's Violent Crime Unit detectives have taken over the case, per the same city account relayed by WPXI. No suspect description or custody status had been released as of the initial dispatch.
The Pittsburgh Bureau of Police runs SoundThinking's ShotSpotter technology across all six city police zones, with acoustic sensors built to alert dispatchers within 60 seconds of a trigger pull, according to SoundThinking's own documentation. The system recorded alerts for gunfire near Brighton Road and Woods Run Avenue.
A Corner With a History
A reported fight preceded Friday night's shooting at the intersection. The victims used private vehicles to reach local emergency rooms rather than ambulances.
Marshall-Shadeland is a residential North Side neighborhood, and its northern border runs directly along Woods Run Avenue where it meets Brighton Heights, according to the City of Pittsburgh Department of City Planning. The area is known for its hilly blocks connected by 29 public city stairways. Just blocks away on Brighton Road, trial proceedings opened in March in a deadly custody-exchange shooting from December 2022, in which victim Corey Washington died after being transported to Allegheny General Hospital.
Part of a Wider Summer Surge in Violence
Friday's shooting was a violent incident in the region.
Both men wounded Friday were taken to Allegheny General Hospital.
