Local

Mother, daughter randomly shot at while trying to pull into their driveway in Homewood

PITTSBURGH — A mother was randomly shot at multiple times with her daughter in the backseat while trying to pull into their driveway on Cassina Way in Pittsburgh’s Homewood neighborhood. 

They were on their way home after getting a bite to eat on Jan. 26 around 8:45 p.m.

“They just started opening fire and shooting,” Anderson tells Channel 11.  “My daughter was screaming ‘go go go!’”

Their car was riddled with bullets, some piercing through the doors or window and ricocheting throughout the backseat where the daughter was sitting. 

In surveillance video from Sharese’s home, you can see the flashes of gunfire.  She showed us where the gunmen were standing - one pointing a long rifle, another holding up a 9mm. In the video, you can hear Sharese floor it, the engine revving as she tried to speed off.

“I’m trying to go but the wheels are spinning so fast trying to get out,” Anderson added. “I didn’t realize the tires were shot out.”

Seven bullets hit her car. One bullet, right in the path of Sharese’s headrest, was lodged in the door frame, unable to travel any further.

“There’s no way that shouldn’t have gone through and hit me in the head,” Anderson said.

She showed us where bullets ricocheted inside the backseat of the car, the doors, a window, and a seat pierced. Sharese says when her daughter got out of the car, she was sitting on a live round.  Police were able to collect ballistics from the bullets and shell casings.

Sharese says police were just one block over and they raced to the scene, at Sharese’s house in what she says felt like seconds. She says the four males, who appeared to be young men, ran off, two in one direction and two into the high weeds adjacent to an alley. Sharese says she’s been asking the city for decades to cut back the weeds because people can clearly hide or come and go after committing a crime without ever being seen. She says with three different administrations, no Mayor has taken her concerns seriously.

“It’s just a straight getaway,” Anderson said.  “In the dark, you can’t see anyone coming out of these weeds. They can hide.”

Sharese says K9s were brought out to help track the suspect, but they were unsuccessful. Sharese hopes once they’re caught, they’re prosecuted to the fullest extent.

“This was very dangerous,” Anderson added. “It was an attempted homicide.”

She says she and her daughter are shaken up and on edge, but grateful this story didn’t have a dramatically different ending.

“It was only God,” Sharese said. “Even the police said I can’t believe you weren’t hit.”

Pittsburgh Police say they’re investigating this case, but so far, no arrests have been made.

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