Police say 31-year-old man fatally shot at Penn Hills intersection

PENN HILLS, Pa. — Homicide detectives are investigating after a 31-year-old man was fatally shot on his way to work late Thursday night in Penn Hills.

According to police, 31-year-old Jamar Hawkins was shot while he was the passenger in a car at the intersection of Saltsburg and Leechburg roads around 10:15 p.m.

Investigators said Hawkins’ girlfriend, who was driving at the time, drove him to UPMC Hospital in Monroeville where he was pronounced dead a short time later. She wasn’t injured in the shooting.

“My son was going to work and they drove up on the side of him and shot four or five times into the car. They killed my son,” Hawkins’ mother, Wynona Harper said.

Through investigation, detectives determined Hawkins and his girlfriend were at the Giant Eagle on Rodi Road just prior to the shooting. Hawkins had an encounter with another man, but left the store.

He was shot a short time later, but police haven’t said if they think the encounter has relation to the shooting.

“You had no right to take his life. He had so much life to live. He had three daughters and has aunts and uncles who love him,” Harper said.

Wynona Harper is pleading for the violence to end.

“We got to stop this. We need for the police of Penn Hills and the mayor of Pittsburgh to step in and stop these vicious crimes. I just lost my son,” Hawkins-Harper said.

No arrests have been made, and police haven’t released any information about potential suspects. Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to contact police at 412-473-1300.

WPXI