Six shot outside funeral in Pittsburgh, police say

At least six people were shot outside of a funeral in Pittsburgh Friday, police said.

One of the victims was reportedly in critical condition while the other five are expected to survive their wounds.

“I’m sorry we’re here to report another tragic incident,” Acting Pittsburgh Police Chief Thomas Stangrecki said.

Officers responded around noon on Friday to Brighton Road for reports of “multiple shots fired” in the area. A large police presence was mostly concentrated outside the Destiny of Faith Church, where a number of EMS personnel also gathered.

Authorities asked residents and motorists to avoid the Brighton Heights neighborhood as they investigated.

Most of the people shot were transported to Allegheny General Hospital. One victim was also rushed to UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, though police would not confirm whether a minor was shot amid the violence.

Witnesses on the scene told Channel 11 that a funeral was unfolding when the gunfire broke. Those gathered at the church were reportedly mourning the loss of John Hornezes, one of the three people killed in a shooting along Cedar Ave. earlier this month. Police said a fight broke out Oct. 15 in the Sunoco gas station parking lot and eventually escalated into gunfire.

Betty Jean Averytt, 59, and Jacquelyn C. Mehalic, 33, were waiting at bus stop nearby when the Oct. 15 violence unfolded. Both women were fatally struck amid the chaos and pronounced dead on the scene, the Pittsburgh Post Gazette reported.

Hornezes was found wounded across the street in Allegheny Commons Park and later died at the hospital.

Pittsburgh Police Cmdr. Richard Ford said a motive in the recent shooting was not clear, but that authorities “believe there’s a dispute going on.”