Ministers yesterday urged the 50 people who attended a prayer vigil outside the fired-upon Hill District home of former Wilkinsburg Mayor Robert Pitts and his wife, Gerrie, to work mightily to put a stop to violence that is rending neighborhoods asunder.

Again and again during the hourlong "Call for Prayer and Action" event staged in front of 970 Bryn Mawr Road, speakers said the key to eliminating violence from the lives of young people is the community's consistent, expansive and long-lasting commitment to attacking the root causes of it, such as lack of jobs and educational opportunities.

Those in attendance, mostly middle-aged blacks and whites, nodded their heads or shouted their approval. Not participating in the vigil but watching it from about 100 feet away were several young men in their late teens or early 20s, the very people who the ministers said must be reached if violence is to be abated.

Police have no suspects in the shooting that occurred about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday. About 15 shell casings were found along Bryn Mawr Road, likely from a semi-automatic weapon.

Eight bullets struck the house, breaking a front window and a window on the door, and piercing the walls. The family's white Honda sedan, parked on the street then as it was yesterday, has two visible bullet holes in a rear fender, a flat tire and a shattered rear window.

Such activity must stop, everyone agreed.

"When we leave here today, we need to be dedicated to take some action against what is going on," said the Rev. Johnnie Monroe, pastor of Grace Memorial Presbyterian Church, not far from the Pitts home. "We're going to sing and pray but then when we leave here today we're going to be ready to do some work to bring some change in this city."

In his prayer, the Rev. John Welch, dean of students at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary where Gerrie Pitts is a student, said residents must be committed to ending a culture of violence in their neighborhoods.

"God, we are looking forward to changing this city, making it a place it should be," he prayed. "We cannot celebrate [Pittsburgh's] 250 years when there is nothing worth celebrating, when lives still are being lost in our streets and in our homes.

"We can't celebrate it being the most livable city in America when most don't feel it has the most livable conditions."

"Amen," the crowd responded when he ended.

The crowd broke into song with the hymn "Blessed Assurance" and later with the Negro spiritual and eventual Civil Rights anthem "This Little Light of Mine."

"God's people have got to stand up and do something, not just about this [shooting incident] but all things God is calling us to do," Gerrie Pitts, who helped organize the rally, told the crowd after thanking them for their support.

Mr. Pitts, 81, and in declining health, sat on the porch during the vigil. He likewise thanked the crowd and urged them on in their work to improve the community.

Speakers noted that an example of continuing attention to community needs is the Pittsburgh Interfaith Impact Network's community rally for its "Holy Ground Initiative" at noon on May 10 at Freedom Corner in the Hill District. The initiative's mission is to "work collaboratively with one another and God to ensure the socio-economic well-being of the community for all," according to the group.

After yesterday's vigil, Mr. Monroe said churches must be more involved in working with a community bonded together in seeking a solution to violence and its causes.

"The youth need alternatives. They need education, jobs, love and just a sense of belonging," he said.