Slain teens remember as search for suspects continues in Airbnb home shooting in Pittsburgh

As the investigation to identify suspects entered its fourth day in a mass shooting at an Airbnb Pittsburgh home that left two teenage boys dead, police changed the number of gunshot survivors from eight to nine .

The Pittsburgh Police Department said in a statement that the new non-fatal gunshot victim was transported to the hospital in a private car and arrived at the emergency room the morning of the shooting in stable condition.

Pittsburgh Police Chief Scott Schubert said five other people suffered cuts and broken bones while fleeing the gunfire, some jumping from second-story windows.

No arrests have been announced in the shooting that occurred early Sunday morning at a party at an Airbnb rental in the East Allegheny neighborhood of North Pittsburgh that police say was attended by more than 200 people.

Schubert said Tuesday that about two hours before the shooting broke out, a police officer responded to a noise complaint at the Airbnb home, but left after issuing a verbal warning to reduce the noise.

“There was nothing unusual to indicate anything was wrong,” Schubert said. “We have information that shows many of these people didn’t come until after midnight.”

The shooting erupted around 12:40 a.m. Sunday and investigators recovered 90 casings from the scene, including 50 inside the Airbnb home.

Schubert said the shooting erupted after an “altercation” inside the house, but declined to give further details.

The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the two 17-year-olds killed in the shooting as Mathew Steffy-Ross and Jaiden Brown. The two teenagers were due to graduate from high school in June, according to friends and relatives.

“Matthew was a fun, loving kid who cared so much about everyone. Matthew would give you the shirt off your back,” Steffy-Ross’ great-aunt Bonnie McLain told ABC affiliate station. WTAE in Pittsburgh.

She described Steffy-Ross, a senior at Grace Non-Traditional Christian Academy in Pittsburgh, as having “the biggest smile in the world.”

“He cared about people and he loved people, and he acted on it,” McLain said, adding that she last spoke to her nephew on Saturday morning and learned of his death from a neighbor on Sunday.

Pittsburgh community activist Lee Davis of the Greater Valley Coalition Against Violence says WTAE that he was a mentor to Steffy-Ross and Brown.

“I’ve attended over 100 funerals in the 17 years I’ve done this job, and I thought I was in tears, but when I saw what happened to Jaiden and Matt, the tears surfaced,” Davis said. . “It just hurt my heart.”

Davis said he has known Brown, a high school student from Woodland Hills in Pittsburgh, since he was a child.

“His energy was great,” Davis said of Brown. “Everyone loved him and he became well-liked in the community. To see this happen to him was truly heartbreaking…because he had a very bright future.”

Cathy Jo Welsh, a member of the Helping Out Our People youth anti-violence program in Pittsburgh, said Brown’s father died of an illness a few years ago and Steffy-Brown’s mother died recently.

“(Steffy-Brown) had just come to terms with losing her own mother and learning to live with trauma and grief,” Welsh told WTAE.