A Pittsburgh honor roll student killed in June three weeks after his high school commencement had just attended a memorial for a murdered family member when he was gunned down, police said in court documents made public Wednesday.
Tristan Taylor, 18, of East Hills, an Allderdice High School alumnus described as quiet, friendly and respectful, was killed June 30 in his neighborhood.
On July 6, Pittsburgh police charged Ronald Stanford, 18, of White Oak in his death, but he remained at large until Tuesday, when he was arrested by the police bureau’s fugitive squad.
The criminal complaint against Stanford remained sealed until his arraignment Wednesday on a charge of criminal homicide and multiple counts of reckless endangerment.
Stanford remained in jail Wednesday with bail denied. There was no lawyer listed in online court records.
Police said Stanford shot Taylor multiple times after Taylor attended a balloon release at the Second East Hills housing complex for a family member killed there in 2018.
Taylor was shot in his back, abdomen, thigh and leg, according to a criminal complaint in the case.
Pittsburgh police were dispatched around 9:50 p.m. to the 2200 block of Wilner Drive after shots were fired at a community center there.
Responding officers found Taylor lying in the doorway of a nearby home, the complaint said. A trail of blood led to six spent bullet casings nearby.
Private security tried to seal Taylor’s chest wounds and began CPR, the complaint said.
Paramedics took over when they arrived on scene, but the teen died there shortly after 10 p.m.
Multiple shots
About two hours earlier, as Taylor and his family headed to the site of the balloon release, they passed Stanford and a group of juveniles, the complaint said.
The group — Stanford, plus two girls and one boy — was sitting on green electrical boxes near the Second East Hills community center at 2291 Wilner Dr., police said.
Nearly two hours later, after the balloon release, Taylor’s family again passed the community center and got into an argument with Stanford and the group of juveniles, according to the complaint.
Stanford repeatedly tried approaching Taylor but others separated the two teens, the complaint said.
When Stanford walked away, into a nearby parking lot, Taylor followed, the complaint said.
Stanford then opened fire, shooting a handgun “multiple times in the direction of the victims,” while he ran toward a gold- or champagne-colored vehicle parked nearby.
Taylor “then dropped down in pain” but managed to run to a nearby home, where police found him minutes later, the complaint said.
College plans
Taylor graduated from Allderdice High School in Squirrel Hill this year, according to Pittsburgh Public Schools.
A school district spokeswoman said Taylor was a “quiet, friendly, respectful and hardworking young man with a great smile.”
A statement from the school district also said Taylor graduated from the Squirrel Hill high school with honors and participated in the Start on Success program while working at the Omni William Penn Hotel in Downtown Pittsburgh.
The spokeswoman said Taylor planned to study business at Community College of Allegheny County.