(News)

Tuesday night's shooting on Evans Avenue is not a sign that the city is suffering an epidemic of gun violence, Mayor Jim Brewster said Wednesday.

According to published and broadcast reports, Leroy Hughes, 29, was shot as he attempted to break up a fight between his dog and one owned by a neighbor.

Police have obtained a warrant for the accused shooter, Thomas Davis Jr., 31, who witnesses said fired up to a dozen shots into Hughes.

Brewster called the homicide "tragic" but cautioned residents against assuming that a wave of gun violence, similar to the one that swept the city in the late 1990s and early 2000s, is underway.

There is no evidence to link Hughes' death to drugs or gang activity, the mayor said; it appears to be the result of a neighborhood argument gone terribly wrong.

"We had a tragic homicide last night," Brewster said. "It was the first of 2008. We had one in 2007. We had one in 2006. We had 10 in 2004.

"Despite last night's events, I think the prognosis is good," he said. "I think we've come a long way with the help of the McKeesport Ministerium and the various task forces, I think people realize their need for involvement as parents, and I think our detectives should be given a lot of credit because they have developed a rapport with our young people, and I can see the difference."

Brewster said that the investigation of the Hughes shooting proceeded swiftly as a result of "excellent cooperation from witnesses in the neighborhood, which has really helped."

The mayor says he personally patrols the neighborhood, which is near UPMC McKeesport hospital and the Carnegie Library of McKeesport, "every single night" to keep an eye out for suspicious activity and talk to parents about bringing their children in after the city's 10 p.m. curfew for juveniles.

Brewster declined comment on a lawsuit filed this week by the mother of Tanya Kach, the now 26-year-old woman who was held captive by a former school security guard for 10 years.

The suit filed in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh on behalf of Sherri Koehnke claims that former city Police Chief Tom Carter and Officer Michael Elias were negligent in their investigation of Kach's 1996 disappearance.

Kach is also suing the city and McKeesport Area School District.

However, the mayor said that the city will try to recover damages from people who file frivolous lawsuits, and that he's wearied of listening to commentators and attorneys attack McKeesport.

"I have directed our council that any more slanderous comments about my city, your city, and our police department will be met with a swift response," Brewster said.