A 15-second video clip from surveillance cameras at a North Side intersection led to the arrest of two teens accused of gunning down a retired city firefighter during a random robbery attempt, Pittsburgh police said Thursday.
"Without this, it would have been -- or possibly been -- just another unsolved homicide," said Deputy Chief Paul Donaldson.
The teens wanted money to buy heroin to sell, police said.
On Wednesday, police arrested Cordell Brown, 17, of Marshall-Shadeland and Tyrone Thomas, 16, of Perry South in connection with the March 14 fatal shooting of Mark J. Barry, 55, of Marshall-Shadeland. The teens are charged with homicide, conspiracy, carrying a firearm without a license and robbery. They are being held without bond in the Allegheny County Jail.
"I'm glad the police have made an arrest," said Fire Chief Darryl Jones. "Hopefully, justice will be served in this case."
Barry was walking his pit bull, Dray, about 10 p.m. on Mullins Street when Brown, Thomas and two other teens approached and shot him, according to criminal complaints filed against Brown and Thomas.
Neither Brown nor Thomas is enrolled in Pittsburgh Public Schools, spokeswoman Ebony Pugh said. No one returned a phone call placed to Brown's home. Thomas' family could not be reached for comment.
Moments before the shooting, motion-sensitive surveillance cameras at the corner of Shadeland and Woodland avenues captured footage of four teens following Barry and his dog.
Brown and Thomas gave differing accounts of what happened next, each accusing the other of pulling the trigger of a black 9 mm semi-automatic handgun, according to the criminal complaints. Both acknowledged randomly selecting Barry after agreeing to rob the first person they saw, the complaints state.
Brown told police that Thomas shot Barry twice, after they asked whether he used drugs and Barry responded with racial slurs. He demanded they get away from him.
Thomas told police the group followed Barry down one street and onto another, and then Brown asked Barry whether his dog would bite. Barry laughed and said no, and Brown pulled the gun and fired two shots, one complaint states.
Both suspects told police they did not rob Barry because his dog guarded his body. Instead, they ran to a house on California Avenue.
Investigators declined to explain the differing stories. They're searching for the other two teens.
Officers discovered Barry, who retired in 2005 from 38 Engine Company in Northview Heights, lying on Mullins Street. He was shot once in the chest and the arm. Two 9 mm shell casings were found at the scene, but police said they have not recovered the gun.
"He was just out walking his dog, like he always was," said Lt. Daniel M. Herrmann.
Without the surveillance video, police would not have made arrests so quickly -- and perhaps not ever, Herrmann said.
"That camera is what I call the snowball on top of the mountain," he said.
The night of the shooting, police never received a call that shots were fired, Herrmann said. A woman called to report someone banging on her windows, sounds that police believe were reverberations from the gunfire. They later were called when someone found the body, Herrmann said.
"That small, 15-second clip gave us something," he said.
Undercover police officers identified two people in the video, which led investigators to Brown and Thomas.
Brightwood Civic Group installed four cameras last year at the intersection with money obtained through City Councilwoman Darlene Harris. The system cost about $5,500, Harris said.
"I'm so grateful they were helpful in a situation like this," said Harris, who obtained money for nine North Side neighborhood groups to install similar systems.
The cameras at Shadeland and Woodland helped police in at least two investigations, said Diane Annis-Dixon, president of Brightwood Civic Group.
She knows the cameras won't prevent crimes, but thinks they're helpful tools for solving crimes.
"I'd like to have a camera on every corner, if we have to," said Annis-Dixon, who knew Barry. "They are expensive. But at the cost of someone's life, they're not expensive at all."
