Death was all around Justen Anderson, but acquaintances and family said his faith kept him from being fearful, even after becoming a witness to the murder of a friend a month ago.

Now, they are wondering whether his courage led to his death shortly after midnight yesterday.

Pittsburgh police said someone fired a shot through the second-floor bedroom window at his grandmother's home on East Marshall Avenue in Perry South, where Mr. Anderson, 19, had been standing.

"This is a person who wouldn't hurt an ant. He never got in trouble," the victim's uncle, Leon Moore III, said yesterday.

Trouble seemed to find Mr. Anderson, though.

He was with a friend, Jason Brown, outside Mr. Brown's residence on North Charles Street on Sept. 28 when the two were confronted by a gunman. Mr. Brown, 30, was wounded, and the two ran to a nearby jitney station, where Mr. Brown collapsed. He died later at Allegheny General Hospital.

"He actually had to beg for his life" after Mr. Brown was shot, Mr. Moore said of his nephew.

Still, Mr. Anderson provided police with information that led to an arrest warrant for Devon Shealey, 22, of the North Side.

And about 6 p.m. last night, the Western Pennsylvania Fugitive Task Force found Mr. Shealy hiding at a friend's house in the 1400 block of Chicago Street in Northview Heights. He will be charged with homicide, four counts of robbery, firearms violations, fleeing and eluding police, criminal conspiracy and several traffic charges stemming from a May incident in which police say he and another man robbed four men at gunpoint in the Strip District.

At a news conference yesterday, police Cmdr. Thomas Stangrecki cited Mr. Anderson's bravery in coming forward.

Investigators do not know whether Mr. Anderson's killing was related to his status as a witness to the previous murder.

"Right now we haven't ruled anything out," Cmdr. Stangrecki said.

Police offered witness protection for Mr. Anderson, but he declined, according to Cmdr. Stangrecki and Mr. Moore.

Instead, Mr. Anderson stayed with other relatives over the past few weeks, only recently going back to live with his grandmother, Robeit Baldwin.

"He was a really good kid. I always heard him next door singing, gospel songs," said neighbor Samantha Luu.

He had been singing since he was a toddler, said his church pastor, the Rev. Brenda Gregg of Greater Allen African Methodist Episcopal Church in Brighton Heights.

On Friday, Mr. Anderson sang at the funeral of another friend, Durrell Woodruff, 19, who was shot dead while he sat in a car in Duquesne on Oct. 23.

Mr. Anderson had not attended the church celebration last night at the social hall, where dozens of members watched election returns.

Ms. Gregg said they had just locked the doors and she was headed to her car when someone called her cell phone to report that Mr. Anderson had been killed.

"He should've never died. Did he not accept [police protection], or did we fail him? If he did step up, then we should've protected him -- mainly the police, but all of us should have protected him," she said.

East Marshall Avenue neighbors said Mr. Anderson was well liked on their street, a short, dead end off Perrysville Avenue. They said they could hear Mr. Anderson singing all the time, inside and outside the house.

"It makes my heart sad, another life taken," said neighbor John Ungerman.

Mr. Moore, who lives in Brookline, said his mother had been in her bedroom at the rear of the house when the bullet pierced the window.

He said his nephew, who referred to his grandmother as mom, yelled, "Mom, I've been shot," as he stumbled into her room and fell to the floor.

The shooting occurred at 12:05 a.m.

Cmdr. Stangrecki said visibility was low on the street and no one reported having seen the shooting, though several neighbors said they heard one gunshot.

Mr. Anderson graduated last spring from Pittsburgh McNaughter Education Center. His pastor and family said he never had been in trouble, but he always had been hyperactive. Since graduation, he had been studying cosmetology, Mr. Moore said.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the police homicide squad at 412-323-7161.