An East Pittsburgh police officer has been charged with criminal homicide in the shooting death of 17-year-old Antwon Rose Jr. He was arrested…
An East Pittsburgh police officer has been charged with criminal homicide in the shooting death of 17-year-old Antwon Rose Jr.
He was arrested and charged, with a bail set at $250,000 Wednesday, according to court records. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 6.
“This is a small stride toward justice but we have a very long road ahead,” said Rose’s family attorney Lee Merritt in a tweet Wednesday morning.
On June 19, Michael Rosfeld shot Rose three times as he fled a car suspected in an earlier shooting. It was Rosfelds first day on the job; he was sworn in hours before the incident. Rosfeld was on administrative leave since the day of the shooting, which has sparked several days of protests in the Pittsburgh area. Hundreds of protesters gathered and even shut down a major interstate (June 22) over the fatal shooting involving a white officer and an unarmed black male.
Mourners gathered on Monday to say their last goodbyes. His funeral was at Woodland Hills Intermediate School. The funeral program included a poem the teen wrote entitled “I Am Not What You Think.” In the poem he wrote, “I see mothers bury their sons/ I want my mom to never feel that pain.”
Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala Jr. said he wanted to wait until after the grieving process & funeral to publicly address the investigation, according to a tweet this week.
