A male teenager was shot across from Burlington and Five Below on Smithfield Street on Feb. 19, before fleeing down Forbes Avenue with a bullet wound in the abdomen.

A Pittsburgh police officer who was driving in the area immediately responded to the incident, Cara Cruz, a Pittsburgh police public information officer, said. After the actor instantly dropped the gun, he took the male suspect into custody. According to Cruz, he was around 21 years of age.

The victim collapsed near a dumpster across from the Pittsburgh Playhouse entrance. It was there where officers applied chest seals to the victim. He was taken to the hospital in critical but stable condition. 

According to Point Park Police Sgt. Bill Wagner, it was all caught on Point Park cameras. Chief Jeffery Besong said that the incident was isolated and does not reflect a trend in Downtown Pittsburgh. 

“Our police officers are highly visible both on and off campus, and their presence serves as a strong deterrent to crime,” he said. “I am incredibly proud of our department and its reputation as one of the best in the Pittsburgh area.”

The first-responding officers on the scene arrived from the Public Safety Center on Wood Street and Forbes Avenue.

“We are glad that we have our Downtown Public Safety Center right here close by and they’re constantly on patrol and we’re able to take action right away,” Cruz said at the scene.

Brian Pfender, a 32-year-old from Greenfield, took a video showing three officers providing aid, kneeling near the victim’s body on the north side of Forbes Avenue. 

Three other officers and a young male were also shown standing nearby. Pfender then watched as the victim was lifted into the ambulance.

“I saw someone running, a loud noise, a huge bang and then I turned my head,” Pfender said. “And that’s when they were over here screaming, ‘stop here, stop here.’”

Buddy Ellis, a 22-year-old from West Mifflin, said he also heard the loud popping noise. 

At the time, he was walking to Exotic Puff, a smoke shop on Smithfield Street and the Boulevard of the Allies, which is approximately three blocks away.

By the time he turned around and walked towards the scene, he said police already had the area taped off within a matter of three to four minutes. The incident caused him to miss his bus.

“It was fairly quick, which was kind of weird,” Ellis said. “You never really see something, you know, taped off and concealed that quickly with this many cops.” 

Wagner agreed that the aggravated assault happened quickly. He said that a female student called into Point Park’s dispatch just after the shooting happened. But city police responded before Point Park’s department could.

“There’s violence everywhere,” Wagner said. “You just have to be aware of your surroundings. If you see an altercation, don’t stick around, call 911, report it.”

Cruz did not say if the act was random or targeted. The incident remains under investigation. Al-
though a suspect was taken in for questioning, no one is currently in custody.

Wagner said that in his opinion, the attack couldn’t have been random.

“For it to transpire so fast, they had to have known each other,” Wagner said.

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In his opinion, Pfender said that the city is a free-for-all and that the police do not do enough to prevent violent crime incidents.

“I believe the mayor does not care about the police,” he said. “That’s a problem. If you call the police, it’ll be 20 minutes before they come. You’ll get food faster.”

60-year-old Patricia Ray said that she is concerned about the safety of older citizens Downtown, specifically on Smithfield Street. The solution, she said, would be for more police to “walk the beat” in other areas more than they already do around Market Square.

“I meet my kids down here all the time along here,” Ray said. “It’s so bad down here; and the police, I hardly see them down and around here. Like, where is security for the people?”

Although she said that she wasn’t afraid to be Downtown, Ray said she is afraid of getting shot.

The incident was the second shooting Downtown and the thirteenth in Pittsburgh this year. There were 2 shootings Downtown in 2024, according to city police data on violent crime in Pittsburgh.

Co-News-Editor Gavin Petrone assisted with the reporting on this article.