Sheriff's deputies take custody of man charged in 2023 police shootout

A Pittsburgh ex-con charged in connection with a 2023 shootout with undercover officers was taken into custody on Wednesday after two months on the lam.

Police said they found “multiple items” that connected Jarrell Saunders, 39, of the Hill District, and two other men with a Feb. 27, 2023 shootout in Stowe where suspects exchanged gunfire with a McKees Rocks police officer and a narcotics task force agent from the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office driving in an unmarked car.

Two judges in March denied Saunders bail but a third judge released him in June — on nonmonetary bond and with electronic home monitoring.

Saunders disappeared until this week. The judge who released Saunders was not available Thursday for comment.

Detectives from the sheriff’s office learned Saunders was inside a Beltzhoover home this week, Allegheny County Sheriff Kevin Kraus said. Deputies forced their way into the Sylvania Avenue residence on Wednesday morning and apprehended Saunders after no one answered the door.

In the February 2023 incident, a pair of undercover officers were driving an unmarked Chevy Impala in the McKees Rocks area in the afternoon when they started to follow a Lincoln SUV they deemed suspicious, a criminal complaint in the case said.

A pursuit ensued, then a gunfight, authorities said. Authorities later recovered more than 40 bullets and bullet casings nearby. Nobody was injured and the suspects fled the scene.

The black Lincoln SUV was found on fire hours later on Paur Street in Pittsburgh’s Mt. Washington neighborhood.

Allegheny County Police charged Saunders with arson, tampering with evidence, criminal conspiracy, receiving stolen property, carrying a firearm without a license and illegal possession of a firearm.

Police said Saunders is not permitted to have a firearm after pleading guilty in 2008 to a drug charge.

Allegheny County Police this week said Saunders wasn’t charged with attempted homicide or aggravated assault because they “do not have evidence that Saunders was in the vehicle at the time of the shooting,” Assistant Superintendent Victor Joseph told TribLive.

“ACPD, based on the evidence, charged Saunders appropriately,” Joseph said.

McKees Rocks police and the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office on Thursday did not respond to calls or emails seeking comment.

No judge has been assigned to Saunders’ cause in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, court officials said Thursday. No attorney has filed their intention to represent him, either.

Attorney Ann Marie Mancuso — who represented Saunders at the district court level — did not return calls Wednesday or Thursday seeking comment. An employee at Mancuso’s law office said Mancuso no longer represents Saunders.

Police said Saunders was taken to the Allegheny County Jail following a March 14 traffic stop in McKeesport.

District court Judge Craig Stephens denied Saunders bond at a March 23 arraignment, noting that he posed a threat and danger to the community, court officials said. Common Pleas Judge Elliot Howsie affirmed Stephens’ denial at another hearing five days after that.

On June 12, Common Pleas Judge Edward J. Borkowski granted Saunders a nonmonetary bond and released him on electronic home monitoring, court officials said. He revoked that bond and issued a bench warrant for Saunders’ arrest after the defendant was charged in a domestic dispute.

Saunders was taken to the county jail Wednesday on both sets of charges, court officials said.

Borkowski and his staff on Thursday were not available Thursday to discuss the judge’s decision about nonmonetary bond. Officials in pretrial services, the agency that assists the court in making decisions about bonds, did not respond to calls seeking comment.

An Allegheny County Jail spokesman on Thursday declined to provide information on Saunders’ time at the Downtown jail.

“We aren’t able to release this information without a court order or subpoena,” spokesman Jesse Geleynse said.

This is not Saunders’ first time behind bars.

A judge in 2012 sentenced Saunders to six to 14 years in prison on a drug charge, said Maria Bivens, a state Department of Corrections spokeswoman. He was incarcerated in state prison from March 2012 until July 2017.

After getting out of prison, Saunders violated the terms of his parole twice. He served a total of eight additional months in state prison in 2021 and 2022, Bivens said.

The other suspects

Two other men involved in the shootout remained in jail this week, authorities said.

Police previously charged Bruce Harvard, 24, of South Side Slopes, and Eric N. Durah, 26, of Pittsburgh, in connection with the 2023 Stowe shooting.

Police arrested Harvard on Feb. 26 on 23 charges, including multiple counts of criminal conspiracy, aggravated assault, assault of a law enforcement officer, and recklessly endangering another person. Harvard was inside the Lincoln SUV at the time of the shooting, according to the criminal complaint against him.

Harvard was taken to the Allegheny County Jail and a judge denied him bail on Feb. 27, court records show. His next court date is on Friday.

Durah was arrested in March 2023 on at least 25 charges, including attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, court records show.

His jury trial has been postponed until next March.