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Two men fire 5 shots in Lincoln-Lemington

Thursday, April 24, 2003

By Nate Guidry, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Two teens and a 3-year-old boy were wounded in a drive-by shooting in Lincoln-Lemington yesterday afternoon.

	Police officers confer yesterday outside Posey's Market, near where two teens were shot and a 3-year-old boy was grazed in an apparent drive-by shooting in the Lincoln-Lemington section of the city. (Pam Panchak/Post-Gazette)

Shortly before 4 p.m., Pittsburgh police Lt. Philip Dacey said two men in a car fired at least five shots at a young man, a girl and a child who were standing near a bus stop at Lincoln Avenue and Upland Street.

Dacey said Dante Bradford, 17, and Natashia Ware, 16, were struck in their legs while Ware's nephew, Treyvonte Lewis, was grazed by the gunfire.

Bradford was in fair condition at UPMC Presbyterian last night. Ware and the toddler were taken to Children's Hospital. A report on their condition was unavailable, but police said their wounds did not appear to be serious.

Dacey said the victims were fortunate because most of the shots were fired at a low angle, with several striking the wall of Posey's Market nearby.

Police are not sure who the intended target was.

The shooting occurred about a half block from a memorial dedicated to Robert Dixon, who was gunned down in the middle of Rowan Street in June 2001. His father, Robert Dixon Sr., who was on the scene yesterday, said he saw the three victims standing outside the store before the shooting.

"This neighborhood is messed up," said Gary Stewart, who has lived in the area for more than 30 years. "There's shooting around here all the time. You can't even sit on your porch anymore. Someone shot into my house three times over the years. There need to be beat cops around here."

Adrienne Young of Garfield, director of the Tree of Hope center, which works with families coping with violent crime, said, "The summer hasn't even started and violence has already begun to escalate in various parts of the city.

"We need to put in place police foot patrols in our neighborhoods. Probation officers need to monitor newly released prisoners because many of the problems we see are caused by newly released prisoners. These people are coming back to reclaim territory, seek revenge and restart their criminal enterprises."

Thomas Posey Jr., of Posey's Market, was behind the counter in the store when the shooting started.

After a series of "pow, pow, pows," he said, about five people ran inside the store and toward the rear. The male victim, bleeding profusely, collapsed on the floor.

At that point, Posey said, his mother, Minnie, who is a retired nurse, placed a tourniquet on the young man's leg to stop the bleeding.

The young woman, who had been in the store with the toddler minutes before the shooting began, sat in a folding chair, screaming.

Posey said, "She wasn't aware she had been shot until she saw blood running down her leg. The toddler was bleeding and hollering."

Posey said he phoned 911.

"I don't think they [the teen victims] knew each other," he said.