Prosecutors pursuing first-degree murder charges in Oakland shooting case

Authorities are pursuing first-degree murder charges against the alleged shooter in a homicide that took place in an area adjacent to Pitt’s campus earlier this month.

In the early hours of August 3, Smith allegedly shot Zachary Sheridan, 24, of Brookline, following a dispute. The district attorney’s office has said that the shooting raises safety concerns. According to court documents, the district attorney is charging Smith with two counts each of reckless endangerment and simple assault in addition to the first-degree murder charge. A sixth charge of aggravated assault has been dropped.

A formal arraignment for Smith is scheduled for September 17. He is currently being held without bail in the Allegheny County Jail.

Attorney Blaine Jones, who is representing Smith, was unavailable for comment Tuesday.

At 3:27 on the day of the shooting, Smith fired on Sheridan after the two men’s respective groups of friends were involved in an argument that escalated into a brief fistfight on the section of Forbes Avenue that includes the Original Hot Dog Shop, Dunkin’ Donuts and Hemingway’s Cafe. Paramedics transported Sheridan to UPMC Presbyterian, where he was pronounced dead.

He turned himself in later on the same day, was released the next day and then arrested once again and formally charged with homicide on August 5.

Since the shooting, members of the district attorney’s office have met with an attorney for the Original Hot Dog Shop in order to discuss safety concerns the shooting raised.

According to still photos from surveillance cameras released by the district attorney’s office released Monday, Sheridan was running away from Smith when the latter fired, fatally wounding him.

Although Smith turned himself in and confessed on the same day the shooting occurred, Mike Manko, a spokesman for Zappala’s office, said Smith’s decision to turn himself in has “no bearing” on the prosecution of the case.

Manko said that the district attorney was not treating the case differently because of the place where the crime occurred, but that violent crime like the alleged shooting from August 3, which took place near Pitt’s and several other universities’ campuses, holds implications that could affect public safety.

“We’d have prosecuted the case regardless, but the number of people in that Forbes-Fifth corridor raises safety concerns,” Manko said.