2016 Wilkinsburg shooting

On the night of March 9, 2016, gunfire erupted at a backyard party in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh, where about fifteen people had gathered. According to officials, shortly before 11:00 p.m. one gunman positioned in a nearby alley fired a .40-caliber pistol and forced several partygoers toward the back porch of the house. A second gunman, armed with a 7.62 mm rifle and stationed in an adjacent yard, then opened fire as victims tried to flee into the house through the back door. Both gunmen fled on foot. Witnesses reported hearing 30–40 shots, and investigators recovered 48 shell casings from the scene. Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala described the attack as "planned and calculated," noting that the shots were headshots rather than random gunfire, and said investigators believed one or two victims may have been specifically targeted while others were killed as collateral damage. A $20,000 reward was offered for information.

Four people died at the scene, and a fifth died after being taken to UPMC Mercy hospital. The following day, the death of the unborn child of one victim, who was eight months pregnant, brought the death toll to six. The named victims were Jerry Shelton, 35; Tina Shelton, 37; Brittany Powell, 27, Jerry Shelton's sister; Chanetta Powell, 25, also Jerry Shelton's sister, whose unborn baby also died; and Shada Mahone, 26. Three others were injured, two men in critical condition and a woman who was treated and released. One survivor, John Ellis, 51, who had been left paralyzed from the waist down by a spinal cord injury sustained in the shooting, died on September 15, 2020, after being taken to UPMC Mercy Hospital for complications; it was not immediately clear whether his death was directly attributable to the shooting.

On June 23, 2016, prosecutors announced charges against Pittsburgh residents Cheron Shelton and Robert Thomas, who had long been considered prime suspects. Investigators alleged the intended target was Lamont Powell, one of the injured survivors, who was allegedly targeted in retaliation for his suspected role in the 2013 killing of Calvin Doswell, a friend of Cheron Shelton, in Pittsburgh's Lincoln-Lemington neighborhood. The case against Robert Thomas was later dismissed. Cheron Shelton was tried and found not guilty of the shooting. He subsequently pleaded guilty to a federal charge of possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon and was sentenced to eight years in federal prison at FCI Hazelton.

The shooting drew statements from Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, U.S. Representative Keith Rothfus, and U.S. Senator Bob Casey Jr. Separately, a local news anchor was fired in March 2016 after posting comments about the shooting that were widely criticized as racially charged, prompting a public on-air apology from the station's president and general manager.