Wilkinsburg man charged in March killing of teen riding his bike, June death of recent grad

A 15-year-old boy shot in the head riding his mini bike on an unseasonably warm March evening.

An 18-year-old recent high school graduate gunned down standing in a Hill District housing complex courtyard last month.

Both teens, police charge, were shot and killed by Shaun Scott, of Wilkinsburg.

Scott, 18, is charged with homicide in connection with the March 30 killing of Dayvon Vickers and the June 24 shooting of Maleek Thomas.

He also faces weapons charges in two separate cases, and police wrote in court documents that he’s been accused in an October carjacking and a separate shooting in mid-June.

A search warrant carried out last week at Scott’s Princeton Boulevard home yielded the evidence investigators needed to file charges in both homicide cases, police wrote.

According to the criminal complaint, Scott was on the radar of Pittsburgh police within a day of the shooting that killed Vickers.

Related:

• 15-year-old boy killed in Homewood shooting

Surveillance footage from the intersection of Frankstown and North Homewood avenues showed to males walking west on the north edge of Frankstown Avenue as Vickers rode his bike, according to the complaint. The man later identified as Scott pulled out a gun from his right side and shot at the boy on the bike, hitting him at least once. The footage shows Vickers falling to the ground as the shooter and his companion fled through a series of vacant lots.

Footage from a nearby convenience store showed the pair in the moments leading up to the shooting, according to the complaint. The footage showed the alleged shooter wearing a black hoodie and black pants with white designs and lettering across the front, including a skull and crossbones on the lower left leg.

Detectives sent a bureau-wide email the next day asking if any officers recognized the man in the footage. Two separate officers, according to the complaint, identified him as Scott. Cell phone data also indicated that Scott was in the area the night of the shooting.

Nearly three months later, Thomas was shot and killed mid-afternoon on Chauncey Drive.

Surveillance footage captured the shooting, according to police: The shooter, wearing a black mask, blue shirt and blue Nike shoes, walked toward the scene and proceeded to “ambush the victim by shooting at the victim and chasing after him,” according to the complaint.

Police said footage showed the shooter running from the area and into an apartment in the housing complex. He emerged a time later wearing different clothing, including a yellow jacket. Police discovered he’d actually walked past the crime scene while police were on scene. They said he matched the shooter’s description but was not wearing the same clothing witnesses had described.

From there, police said, Scott took a jitney to Northview Heights. The driver allowed police to search their vehicle, where Scott had left his yellow jacket, according to the complaint.

On July 1, officers were at the scene of an incident in Sheraden when two men approached and said they were trying to retrieve their PlayStation 5 from the home in question, according to the complaint. When one of the men identified himself as Scott, the officer discovered warrants for his arrest and he was taken into custody. Police found a 9mm pistol in a fanny pack Scott was carrying.

During questioning, Scott admitted to shooting Thomas, according to the complaint. Scott told investigators he’d been throwing rocks at an apartment window because he wanted to be let inside but the music was too loud for anyone to hear him.

Scott said Thomas, who was in the courtyard, kept “looking in his direction and asking who he was,” according to the complaint. He said the shooting was in self-defense.

The same night Scott was taken into custody, police got a search warrant for his home. During their search, they found a pair of black pants with white designs on them, including a skull and crossbones on the lower legs, according to the complaint. Police said they were the same pants seen in surveillance footage from the Vickers shooting in March.

In addition to homicide, Scott is charged in both cases with multiple firearms violations. He faces further weapons charges in two unrelated cases. He is being held in the Allegheny County Jail without bail. No defense attorney was listed as of Thursday morning. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 20.