TMCNet: Man kills girlfriend, then self after Point Breeze standoff, police say

[January 02, 2013]

Man kills girlfriend, then self after Point Breeze standoff, police say

Jan 02, 2013 (The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Ka'Sandra Wade tried to escape the man who police say fatally shot her before taking his own life early Wednesday, a coworker said.

"She was doing everything right," said Maryellen Deckard, statewide campaign and development director for East Liberty-based Action United, a nonprofit that focuses on issues affecting low-income communities. "And it just went so wrong." Wade's mother and other relatives and friends went to the police station in Highland Park about 8 a.m. Tuesday concerned about Wade, 33, of Larimer. She hadn't answered her phone or door, and hadn't picked up her son, 10, police said.


Officers forced their way into Wade's home on Lowell Street and found her dead of a gunshot wound, Pittsburgh police Cmdr. Thomas Stangrecki said. Investigators learned of her estranged boyfriend, Anthony Brown, 51, and went to his apartment on North Homewood Avenue in Point Breeze about 12:20 a.m. Wednesday, police said.

Brown wouldn't open the door and told officers he had a gun and was thinking of killing himself, Stangrecki said. The SWAT team responded and negotiators began talking with Brown.

"During the negotiations, the suspect implicated himself in the death of Ms. Wade," Stangrecki said.

Brown stopped communicating with negotiators and police used a robot equipped with a camera to determine he fatally shot himself. Medics pronounced him dead just before 5 a.m.

Investigators are looking into why Brown shot Wade, Stangrecki said.

"We're all pretty much devastated," Deckard said. "We want to do something to make it so Ka'Sandra's life was not in vain." Wade, who worked for Action United for about 9 months, came into the office one day and said Brown threatened to kill her, Deckard said. Wade immediately began looking for a new place to live and moved to the Lowell house in the fall.

"She didn't want to get hurt," Deckard said. "She didn't want her son to get hurt." Margaret Harding is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 412-380-8519 or mharding@tribweb.com.

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