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Diner shooting leaves 3 dead Young girl among Homewood victims Saturday, January 26, 2002 By Dan Gigler, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Three people were killed, including a young girl, and a woman was wounded when gunmen burst into a Homewood restaurant last evening and opened fire.
Witnesses said it appeared the gunmen were specifically targeting one of the victims, a man in a wheelchair.
Police did not immediately identify the victims, but witnesses and neighborhood residents said the man in the wheelchair was Tommy Mitchell, a man who had been paralyzed in a shooting in the mid-1990s.
Officials at Children's Hospital said the girl, who was about 9 years old, died around 8 p.m., shortly after she arrived at the hospital.
The third fatality, a man, died at UPMC Presbyterian shortly before midnight, police said.
A woman was in serious condition at UPMC Presbyterian. Her name was not released.
Police said they had very little information to go on last night and were hoping to get more details about the gunmen from witnesses and residents of the neighborhood.
Police last night were looking for three suspects, described only as young black males in their late teens or early 20s who were wearing masks at the time of the shootings.
"I hope the community will not let this go and will help us," said police Cmdr. Maurita Bryant of the major crimes division. "We have a 6- or 7-year-old girl who was killed."
Police said the shooting occurred shortly after 7 p.m. inside Mr. Tommy's Sandwich Shop, 807 N. Homewood Ave., near Frankstown Avenue.
One man who was inside the restaurant said several men came inside and started shooting. The man, who did not want to be identified, said he wasn't sure if the shots were fired by more than one of the men.
But the man said it seemed clear that the gunmen were not interested in money.
"It was a hit. There was no attempt at a robbery," the witness said.
The owner of the restaurant, Tommy Washington, said he was sitting in the middle of the restaurant, and was about a foot away from Mitchell, along with several other people, when the shooting started.
Washington said he did not get a look at the gunmen because he dove for the floor when he heard the shots. He said that as many as 12 shots might have been fired.
Washington said it was over quickly.
"It took maybe a minute, but do you realize how long a minute can be?" Washington said.
Washington said he has owned the restaurant for about three months and that Mitchell was a regular customer. Residents described it as an important part of the community, saying Washington tried to provide jobs for the neighborhood.
The shooting drew a crowd of about 200 people and dozens of uniformed officers and several detectives.
Washington was shocked he was not struck by one of the bullets.
"Only by the grace of God am I alive," he said. "These people come in shooting ... and a little girl got shot because of it."
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