Homicide investigation goes on
ADAMS TWP — State police said the 25-year-old man killed on the steps of an apartment on Downieville Road early Friday morning did not live there.
Authorities have not released the name of the victim and are searching for his next of kin. An autopsy was scheduled for 4 p.m. Friday. Coroner William Young did not return calls for comment.
Many of the details of the incident that occurred about 3:15 a.m. remain unclear.
“We're not sure what his purpose was to be there,” Lt. Thomas Dubovi said Friday of the victim.
About 9:15 p.m. Friday, police issued a be-on-the-lookout alert for Jacob Michael Adams, 24, who was identified as a suspect.
The alert said Adams, a white man, was driving an Audi and should be considered armed and dangerous.
No charges have been filed in the case. Past court records for Adams list his address as Kittanning.
Police said one of the tenants of the apartment, 18-year-old Jeremy Hughes, is a person of interest and is cooperating with police.
Dubovi said Friday afternoon that other individuals also were being interviewed.
A witness told authorities that she saw three people running from the scene shortly after hearing a commotion early Friday morning.
Dubovi said the homicide possibly was drug related and that police have multiple weapons believed to be involved.
The victim was found outside the duplex at 141 Downieville Road near the James Austin Co.
A neighbor reported a commotion at the home about 3:17 a.m., saying she heard arguing and yelling, then banging. Moments later, gunfire rang out.
Soon after the ruckus faded away, police cars and officers flooded the neighborhood.
Butler County Chief Deputy Coroner John Hanovick pronounced the victim dead at 5:38 a.m.Alex Kroll, the apartment landlord, said that Hughes and Dan Oliverio moved in during October.It is not known if Oliverio had any involvement in the shooting.Kroll said the two tenants had not caused any problems.“They paid their rent on time and up front,” he said, adding each had clean criminal records when they moved in.Kroll said police knocked on his door in Evans City at 7:40 a.m. asking if he owned an apartment in Valencia.“I was nauseous,” he said about his reaction to the shooting. “It's really heartbreaking. I'm just devastated that it happened.”Adams Township police were first on the scene. State police, Cranberry Township police and the Northern Regional Police Department heard the radio call and quickly arrived to assist. The Allegheny County Emergency Services trailer also was called in.At the Austin plant, the company locked the facility for several hours, with workers getting into the plant only after being admitted by a supervisor.Kroll has owned the duplex since 1981 when he bought it from the James Austin Co. The stone building was built in 1913, and it was the Downieville Mission and Library during the early part of that century.The neighborhood where the shooting happened has older homes, many of them built in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, said Gary Peaco, Adams Township code enforcement officer and building inspector.This death is the second homicide to occur in the township in the past two years.Tara Sherri Bouie, 42, was killed Oct. 29, 2014, in the house she was renting on Tenacity Trail. She suffered a gunshot wound to the head.Her 5-month-old daughter was in a child seat next to her, but was unharmed. State police are handling that investigation but have had no breakthroughs.Eagle staff writers Paula Grubbs, Will DeShong, Kim Paskorz and Jim Smith contributed to this report.
