Heartbroken mother has a message for her 11-year-old son's killer

PITTSBURGH — The mother of an 11-year-old boy who was shot and killed and a 16-year-old who was wounded is calling for the gunman to turn himself in.

“How can you just walk into someone's house, not say a word and kill a child?” Amanda McKnight said through tears during a news conference held Friday by the South Pittsburgh Coalition for Peace. “Stop being a coward now and turn yourself in.”

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Police said someone entered her Mount Oliver home Sunday around 8:45 p.m., and fired several shots.

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David McIntyre, 11, was pronounced dead at the scene and 16-year-old C.J. Conrad was rushed to the hospital.

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McKnight said she was in her bedroom putting away Christmas presents that she had just purchased for her sons and the boys were playing video games when the shooter walked into the house.

“The hardest thing I ever had to do was tell my son his brother was gone,” she said.

When asked how Conrad was doing, McKnight said he holds himself responsible because he couldn’t protect David.

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“They took my kind, loving child and he's never going to be the same - You ask him what he wants for breakfast, he says he wants his brother.”

McKnight said a bullet just missed C.J.’s spine. The family decided to donate David’s organs.

Pittsburgh police said they are working overtime to find the killer, and they are urging anyone who may know something to come forward.

“I want this coward to look me in the eye and tell me why he shot my children,” McKnight said.

The shooting hit close to home for many members of the community.

“He was a child, just 3 years older than my oldest grandchild,” said Rev. Eileen Smith with the South Pittsburgh Coalition for Peace.

In addition to calling for the shooter to turn himself in, those in attendance Friday called on law enforcement and government officials to act.

"Stop the meetings, stop procrastinating and start fixing this problem. This is a call to action. We are looking for those solutions,” said Richard Carrington, with Voices Against Violence.

Police say they’re still actively investigating.

“What was experienced by the McIntyre family is one of those things that even shocks a veteran police officer, said Pittsburgh Police Lt. Ed Cunningham.

WPXI