Pittsburgh police investigating carjacking; car recovered in Westmoreland County

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Police Auto Squad is investigating another carjacking that happened early Wednesday morning. Police say the driver was held at gunpoint by three juveniles, and then stolen near East Ohio and James Streets on the North Side. Roughly an hour later, New Kensington Police found the car dumped in Westmoreland County. Police say nobody is in custody in connection to this carjacking.

Channel 11 News went back through police records and found eight carjackings in the city in the last two months. Pittsburgh Police say they believe three of the carjackings and one attempted carjacking in the Shadyside area are connected to the three juveniles with guns. A spokesperson for the department said they’re investigating whether some or all of the other carjackings are connected.

“I’ll tell you something about these young kids,” Betty Shankle said. “If they’re not taking something, on something, stealing something, they’re not happy.”

Shankle has lived in Pittsburgh her whole life and says kids with guns are running the streets, especially after this latest carjacking.

“The police are doing the best they can, but they need the grown-ups to help them too,” Shankle added. “They can’t do this all by themselves.”

In some of these carjackings, the victims were pistol-whipped or left bruised and bloodied. A Carnegie Mellon University student even had a tooth knocked out.

“That’s crazy and it happened right here by East Ohio, you would think they’d have cameras around here to catch them, all these businesses,” Alayah Thompson tells Channel 11.

Shankle had this message for the kids terrorizing her neighborhood:

“Grow up and get a job like everybody else did,” Shankle added. “There are after-school jobs, you can make some money. You don’t have to take from people.”

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