A 16-year-old Garfield boy who turned himself in to police Sunday on charges he stole a retired Pittsburgh police commander's vehicle, gun and badge was charged last night in the fatal shooting of a college student in Squirrel Hill.

Peter M. Borsh, Post-Gazette Delbert Williams, 16, center, is led into the Allegheny County Coroner's office last night for his arraignment in the slaying of Frank Ogiri-Little. Homicide detectives Dennis Logan, left, and Timothy Rush are escorting Williams. Click photo for larger image.

Police do not believe the gun used in the Aug. 4 slaying of Frank Ogiri-Little, 27, was the one taken from retired Cmdr. Gwen Elliott on July 31, Pittsburgh police Lt. Kevin Kraus of the investigations branch said at a news conference last night.

As he was being led into the Allegheny County coroner's office for arraignment on the homicide charge last night, the suspect, Delbert Williams of Dearborn Street, apologized for the crimes.

"I just want to say I'm sorry to the people I've hurt, the family of Frank [Ogiri]-Little and Gwen Elliott," Williams told a reporter.

Kraus said Williams and other young men were riding around in the early morning hours of Aug. 4 in a stolen Jeep Cherokee looking for someone to rob. They searched in Oakland, Shadyside and Squirrel Hill but many they saw weren't alone so they passed them by, Kraus said.

And then they saw Ogiri-Little, walking alone at about 1:08 a.m. on South Negley Avenue at Fair Oaks Street, a normally placid neighborhood of expensive homes. Friends said he often walked the city's streets late at night.

"They selected him as an easy target," Kraus said.

An affidavit of probable cause filed in the case said Williams told police he and another man got out of the car, leaving another youth inside the vehicle, and demanded money from Ogiri-Little.

	Frank Ogiri-Little

Kraus said Ogiri-Little refused. They demanded his backpack, and Ogiri-Little refused again.

The suspects then told Ogiri-Little, a part-time student at the University of Pittsburgh, to turn around and run off in the opposite direction. Again he refused their order and multiple gunshots were fired at him, killing him.

Police recovered the stolen Jeep, not far from Williams' home, Kraus said.

While not blaming the victim, Kraus advised the public not to resist robbers.

"The best course of action is to comply. Cmdr. Elliott complied and thankfully she wasn't shot. The other victim was shot when he refused. In a situation like that, the best advice is to comply fully."

Asked about the relatively young age of the suspect, Kraus said he no longer is surprised by such an occurrence because "a lot of violent crimes in the city are commited by people in that age category."

Ogiri-Little was a poet, abstract painter and rock climber who worked at Free Ride!, a nonprofit shop in Point Breeze that recycles bicycles, until about 11 p.m. the night before his death.

After leaving Free Ride!, Ogiri-Little stopped in at the Squirrel Hill Cafe, had a beer or two, chatted with a roommate, and then left about 12:50 a.m. He was headed on foot to his home in Lawrenceville and made it about six blocks before he was killed.

Ogiri-Little was born in Pittsburgh but moved to Nigeria at an early age and lived there for a number of years. He returned to Pennsylvania, living first in Mercer County and then moving to Point Breeze. Friends said Ogiri-Little graduated from Allderdice High School in 1994.

During her robbery, Elliott gave up her badge and sidearm, as well as her vehicle, laptop computer, cell phone and $700.

Police said Elliott was cleaning out her sport-utility vehicle at about 9:15 p.m. outside her home at Negley Avenue and Hays Street when two young men, one waving a handgun, approached and demanded her keys. Elliott handed them over and the men drove away.

Inside the silver X-model BMW were her police badge and identification, a .38-caliber Smith and Wesson revolver, a cell phone, laptop, slide projector and money. The affidavit of probable cause quoted Williams as saying he shot Ogiri-Little with a .380-caliber handgun.

Elliott's car was found Aug. 1 on South Millvale Avenue near West Penn Hospital in Bloomfield.