Police: Witnesses describe ‘chaotic’ fight ahead of Butler shooting Thursday
Before a shooting that wounded two people Thursday, Nov. 5, in the city of Butler, at least five people were observed fighting a man, according to charges filed over the weekend by city police.
Witnesses told Butler City Police that a man — later identified as 19-year-old Khamrin Paige, of Carnegie — leaned out a rear window of a vehicle and fired a pistol multiple times toward a West North Street apartment.
Justin Desamour, the man who the group was fighting, and a juvenile girl were injured in the shooting. Desamour was shot in the left ankle and taken to Allegheny General Hospital. The juvenile girl’s head was grazed by a bullet, and she was taken to Butler Memorial Hospital.
Butler City Police Chief Bob O’Neill said the two were recovering well Saturday.
Police said witnesses recounted seeing a “group of five juveniles” fighting Desamour in the street outside the apartment building in the area of 400 W. North St.
According to the charging documents, witnesses said the five retreated to a black Ford Sedan when they began losing the fight, which was described as “chaotic.”
Police said witnesses reported seeing the vehicle turn around in the street to drive past Desamour. The charging documents indicate that Paige fired the pistol, striking both Desamour and the girl.
Paige was arrested the following day at a traffic stop by Monroeville police.
He was charged Saturday with four felony counts of aggravated assault, one felony count each of discharging a firearm into an occupied structure, firearms not to be carried without a license, criminal conspiracy and criminal attempt and misdemeanor reckless endangerment.
Police said Paige confirmed he was in Butler the night of the shooting after taking a bus from Pittsburgh.
Paige is being held in Butler County Prison with bail denied. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. Nov. 16 before District Judge William Fullerton.
Jacob Trinkley, who said he made the first call to police to report the shooting, said he managed to talk to the girl who was shot as she was being loaded into an ambulance, and she told him she was OK.
“I actually just talked to the woman who was just shot, and I happen to know her,” Trinkley said. “She said, ‘I’m OK, I got grazed.’ … Don’t use guns, guys. It doesn’t get you nowhere and it hurts your loved ones.”
O’Neill has previously said more arrests will follow.
