‘How could they do it to somebody like him?’: 70-year-old stabbed in Shadyside

PITTSBURGH — Twenty-two-year-old Jasper Hilliard faces several charges, including aggravated assault and burglary, for what police say happened in Shadyside on Saturday.

Neighbors in the tight-knit community are in disbelief after what happened on Lehigh Avenue, after a man who neighbors describe as a wonderful 70-year old was attacked and stabbed in his neck.

“How could they do it to somebody like him?” said Virginia Flaherty. “I didn’t know what to think. I thought someone’s really out of their mind to do that, and i knew it wasn’t anything he did to provoke it.”

While neighbors called 911 to get the stabbing victim to a hospital after 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Pittsburgh police say a witness approached them with video footage of Jasper Hilliard. Police were able to get a description of him. While this was happening, officers found out about another 911 call on Lehigh Avenue for a man who had walked into a strangers house, covered in blood.

The two witnesses inside that home say the man who matched the description of Jasper Hilliard took off a green shirt he was seen wearing in earlier surveillance footage and left it at the house.

Neighbors who live along Lehigh Avenue, which is just two blocks off Highland Avenue’s popular restaurants and stores, say it’s concerning.

Dominika Oliver said, “I was shocked. I wouldn’t have expected something like that to happen here. I walk around here late at night sometimes even, and I feel safe around the neighborhood, and it just makes me a little bit more leery, especially with something like that happening.”

Pittsburgh Police were able to catch Hilliard in the driveway of the home he’d reportedly broken into. When questioned, Hilliard reportedly confessed to stabbing the man in his head, chest and neck. Hilliard, who lives down the street on South Highland Avenue, allegedly told police that he thought he’d killed the victim and that he chose him out of “convenience.”

Police say the stabbing victim is in critical condition. Neighbors say they’re praying for him and that they’ll be there when he gets out of the hospital.

Flaherty said, “Some people call him Mr. Shadyside. Some people know him by Al. Some people don’t even know his name, they just say the guy that wears suspenders that’s very friendly.”

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