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Girl, 12, identifies suspect as man who shot her sister
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Twelve-year-old Rasheeda Shorter and the dozen or so friends and acquaintances who gathered last month outside her sister's North Versailles apartment ran for cover when they saw a man point and shoot at the front window of the unit, the girl testified at a preliminary hearing Friday.
Her sister, Parris Harris, a 19-year-old mother, was killed by a bullet that struck her in the head that night, Sept. 10, Assistant District Attorney Ilan Zur said before the hearing began in Municipal Court.
District Judge Derwin Rushing ordered the suspect, Jaquan M. Jones, 19, to stand trial on homicide and related charges.
"He called me his little sister. I only knew him as Parris' boyfriend," Rasheeda testified.
Parris and the suspect were estranged, and she had taken up again with Shon Taylor II of Duquesne, the father of her 3-year-old son, according to police reports.
Rasheeda said she saw Mr. Jones, standing with another man outside the apartment, yelling at the victim and Mr. Taylor, both of whom were standing inside the apartment in front of the living room window.
She saw the suspect pull a pistol from his waistband and fire two shots at the window, the girl testified.
The witness said she ran to another relative's residence across from Parris' apartment on Rollingwood Drive. From there she watched Mr. Jones shooting at another apartment building in the Rollingwood housing complex.
Defense attorney Angela Carsia said after the hearing that her client is pleading not guilty to the charges.
Allegheny County Police homicide Detective Lawrence Carpico testified that five other people at Parris' residence had taken cover in other rooms. None of them was injured.
Spent shells from a .380-caliber semiautomatic pistol were found on the grounds outside. It was a .380 slug that killed Parris, according to the county medical examiner.
First Published October 9, 2010 12:00 am
