16-year-old charged as adult in armed carjacking on Pittsburgh’s North Side

PITTSBURGH — A 16-year-old is being charged as an adult in an armed carjacking on Pittsburgh’s North Side in October.

A man said he feared for his life when a teenager came up to him while he was sitting in his car and pointed a gun in his face through the passenger side window.

Thursday, 16-year-old Jerome McClung of Wilkinsburg was in a juvenile detention facility outside the city. That’s all Pittsburgh police would say.

McClung is facing eight charges, which include robbery of a motor vehicle and simple assault.

“It’s a shame. It really is,” said Rachel Fletcher, who lives in Castle Shannon. “I’d be scared. Really scared. That’s your life.”

According to the criminal complaint, McClung came up to a man in his car, pointed a pistol at him and told him to “open the door and get out.”

In fear of being shot, the man got out of the car.

He said that’s when the teenager with the gun, plus two other teenagers, jumped into his car and drove off.

About an hour later, Allegheny Valley Police spotted the stolen car and briefly pursued it in Westmoreland County.

A Lower Burrell Officer detained one teenager, whose mom reported him missing just a few days before.

McClung and another teen ran.

“These kids is bad as hell. There’s no guidance,” said Chris Ann Saunders, who lives on the North Side.

In October, Channel 11 looked through police records and found eight carjackings in the city, all around the same time.

At that time, Pittsburgh police said they believed three of the carjackings and one attempted carjacking in the Shadyside area were connected to three juveniles with guns.

Channel 11 asked if McClung and the other two teenagers were responsible for any of these other ones.

Pittsburgh Public Safety said they “couldn’t speak to whether McClung is connected to any other incidents that are currently under investigation.”

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