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City officials, community react to fatal shooting in downtown Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH — Many commuters and business owners are still too shaken up to talk about a deadly shooting in downtown Pittsburgh.

The shooting that happened at the intersection of Liberty Avenue and 7th Street claimed the life of 23-year-old Eugene Nance.

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“Yesterday I heard some disturbing sounds and all these cars come flying down here, and I come to find out it was another senseless killing,” said one man who visits town regularly, Will Smith.

Police said on Thursday afternoon just before 2:30 p.m., 18-year-old Erique Collington walked up to another man and opened fire shooting him multiple times on a crowded city street before taking off running towards the North Shore, where police arrested him.

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The mayor’s office releasing a statement Friday offering their prayers to the family and friends of the victim and credited their increased patrolling in the area with a quick arrest:

”While we cannot stop every shooting from happening, we can do all that we can to take violent actors off the streets - just like our officers did yesterday.”

Many business owners and commuters are concerned and want a safer downtown.

“Open up some more centers like Shuman Center, they’ve got to open up those centers quickly so those kids will have somewhere to go. The city is talking about a curfew, [we need to] have somewhere for those kids to go and get some counseling for them,” said City Council President Theresa Kail-Smith.

Kail-Smith also wants a center but not in the traditional sense, she believes a resource center would be more proactive than a detention center.

“If you can give them hope instead of a record and some kids I mean if you see what some of our kids are going through,” said Kail-Smith.

Kail-Smith said that’s why she suggested a curfew to help get young people to the proposed resource centers if they need help or are without a safe place to go.

“The school district already owns buildings. They are partners with us. The county already has funding, they have shuttles. How can we collectively help reduce the violence in our city? We’ve got to do it now immediately,” Kail-Smith said

Channel 11 News spoke with the family of the victim who asked for privacy at this time but did share a GoFundMe that they are using to help cover burial costs.

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