Clairton, PA (PPP)— A Clairton man has been arrested and charged in connection with a shooting incident that occurred on December 31, 2022.

Elijah Law, age 27, has been charged with aggravated assault, attempted criminal homicide, and recklessly endangering another person.

The shooting occurred outside the Sportsman’s Bar and Grill in Clairton. The victim was shot in the left calf.

The Allegheny County Police General Investigations Unit was called in to assist with the investigation, and surveillance footage was recovered from the bar. The footage showed that Law was one of two men who emerged from a white Volkswagen Tiguan and entered the bar. A fight broke out, and the victim was shoved and assaulted before being shot, according to a criminal complaint filed against Law.

Detectives later discovered that the firearm recovered from Law’s residence was linked to the bullet that was found at the crime scene, according to the complaint.

Based on the evidence gathered during the investigation, Law has been charged with multiple felonies and was held in the Allegheny County Jail on $100,000 bail.

Name: Elijah Law
Gender: Male
Age: 27

Agency: Allegheny County Police Department

Court: Magisterial District Court 05-3-09
Docket Number: MJ-05309-CR-0000107-2023
Date Filed: March 28, 2023

Bail: $100,000
Confinement: Allegheny County Jail
Confinement Reason: Unable to post bail.

Criminal Charges

1. Aggravated assault – attempts to cause serious bodily injury or causes injury with extreme indifference (Felony 1)
2. Aggravated assault – attempts to cause bodily injury with a deadly weapon (Felony 2)
3. Criminal attempt – criminal homicide (Felony 2)
4. Recklessly endangering another person (Misdemeanor 2)

Affidavit of Probable Cause

Your affiant, Detective Brown, is a Detective with the Allegheny County Police Department assigned to the General Investigation Unit and a law enforcement officer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Your affiant is empowered to make arrests for criminal offenses enumerated within this document. All of the information contained in this affidavit was learned directly by the affiant or was communicated to your affiant by other law enforcement officers, victims, witnesses, or law enforcement clinicians and technicians.

The facts and information contained within this affidavit were acquired as the result of a shooting investigation in the City of Clairton. The facts and information contained was obtained directly by your affiant and/or other detectives/officers involved in the investigation/incident.

On Saturday December 31, 2022, at approximately 0200 hours, the City of Clairton Police Department requested the investigative assistance of the Allegheny County Police General Investigations Unit for a report of a male shot in the 500 block of 3rd Street, Clairton, PA.

Upon Clairton PD’s arrival on scene, they located a male identified as ███████ suffering from a gun shot wound to his left calf. ███████ was transported by EMS to Mercy Hospital.

Detectives ascertained ███████ had been shot in the area of Sportsman’s Bar and Grill at ███████. Detectives were able to locate a silver SUV with ballistic damage, four bullet fragments, 2 projectiles, and 2 x.380, casings. The ballistic evidence was located in front of the United Steel Workers Local 1557 at ████████████. The building is adjacent to Sportsman’s Bar Grill. While investigating, Detectives also observed exterior surveillance cameras on Sportsman’s Bar and Grill. The recovered items were processed as evidence and sent to the Allegheny County Crime Lab for analysis.

On Tuesday January 3, 2023, Det. Maloney was contacted by State Parole Agent Ron Fine. Agent Fine supervises ███████. Agent Fine spoke with ███████ about the shooting incident. According to Agent Fine, ███████ advised him that he had heard that an individual named “Law” was responsible for shooting ████████████ at Sportsman’s Bar and Grill.

Agent Fine also supervises an individual named Elijah Law. Law was born and raised in Clairton, where he currently resides. Agent Fine conducted a home visit with Law at his home on Chambers in Clairton. During the visit, Agent Fine discovered a firearm and contacted the Allegheny County Police.

I forwarded Agent Fine’s information to the ACPD Narcotics Unit. ACPD Narcotics Detectives obtained a search warrant for the residence, recovered the firearm, and took Law into custody. The recovered firearm, identified as a SCCY Model CPX-2 9mm, were submitted to the Allegheny County Forensics Laboratory.

Later that day, at approximately 1400 hours, Det. Kirksey and Maloney conducted an interview with ███████. ███████ was shot a single time outside the Sportsman’s Bar and Grill in Clairton. The interview took place at Mercy Hospital. Per ███████’s wishes, the interview was not recorded.

According to ███████, he was at Sportsman’s having some drinks when a fight broke out. Everybody involved in the fight eventually made their way outside. Some time later, ███████ left the bar and decided to head home. As he exited the bar, ███████ observed 2 black males, one wearing a green top and one wearing a black top, firing shots from the hillside across the street. ███████ sought cover behind a silver SUV parked along State Street by the bar. After the shooting, both actors got into a tan colored SUV and fled down State Street and into Clairton. At that point, ███████ picked himself up off the ground and realized he was shot. ███████ got into a red colored sedan and made his way to his parent’s house where he was found by responding Clairton Police units. ███████ stated that he did not get a look at either shooter’s face, and he would not be able to identify anybody.

On Thursday January 5, 2023, at approximately 3 P.M., Detectives from the Allegheny County Police General Investigations Unit executed a search warrant at ███████ (Sportsman’s Bar and Grill) in Clairton. Sportsman’s was the scene of the non-fatal shooting on December 31, 2023. The search warrant was for the collection of any surveillance camera systems and any peripheral devices used for the operation and data storage.

Detectives made contact with Ronald Berry at the bar. Berry was presented with the warrant and led Detectives to the area where the system was being stored. Detectives recovered 1 Hikvision Network Video Recorder (Serial Number: G88960538) from the basement of the bar.

On Wednesday January 25, 2023, bet. Maloney reviewed the surveillance footage from Sportsman’s Bar and Grill on the night of the shooting incident. The footage is from Friday December 30, 2022, into Saturday December 31, 2022. The following details the surveillance footage recovered from within and outside of Sportsman’s Bar and Grill:

00:47:27 — A white Volkswagen Tiguan (SUV) parks across the street in front of Sportsman’s Bar and Grill.

Over the course of the investigation, Detectives discovered that the white Volkswagen Tiguan, bearing Florida registration ███████, was a rental vehicle owned by Avis. Detectives inquired with Avis concerning the vehicle and learned that the Volkswagen Tiguan has been rented by a ███████.

00:57:35 — The Victim, ███████, walks into Sportsman’s Bar.

01:00:15 — Two males, later identified as ███████ and Elijah Law; emerged from the Volkswagen Tiguan and walk across the street towards the bar. ███████ is wearing an all-green sweat suit, and Law is wearing all black. Both men have their hoods pulled over their heads. (PA State Parole Agents Ron Fine and Jen Schaeffer were shown portions of the Sportsman’s surveillance footage. Agent Fine identified Elijah Law and Agent Schaeffer identified ███████. Agent Fine is assigned to supervise Elijah Law and Agent Schaeffer is assigned to supervise ███████. Both Agents know and are familiar with their parolees.)

01:07:53 — ███████ walks up and is talking with two males directly in front of the victim. These two black males had been standing with the Victim since he entered the bar at 00:57:35.

01:08:47 — The Victim shoves ███████.

01:08:51 — ███████ goes after and assaults the Victim.

01:09:01 — The Victim and ███████ wrestle their way towards the front door. At the same time, Law bursts out of the front door and runs overs towards the location where it is believed that the Volkswagen Tiguan is parked.

01:09:18 — Law returns from the location where it is believed that the Volkswagen Tiguan is parked. Law has his right hand inside of his front jacket pocket while his left hand is at his side.

01:09:25 — Law is standing out front by the door. Law’s right hand has not left his right front pocket.

01:09:34 — ███████ comes running out of the bar, pushing a woman out of his way, towards the location where it is believed that the Volkswagen Tiguan is parked. Law follows ███████.

01:09:48 — The Victim exits the bar making a left down State Street in front of the USW Local 1557 building

01:09:52 — People outside the bar begin running away from the bar and seeking cover behind nearby cars.

The Office of the Allegheny County Medical Examiner Scientists conducted analysis of the bullets recovered from the vicinity of 300 State Street and the firearm recovered from Elijah Law’s bedroom at ████████████. The items, 23LAB00096 2B (Bullet) and 23LAB00098 1A (Gun), were tested within the following date range: 02/22/2023 to 02/2312023. The Laboratory findings states “The test bullets from the above SCCY Industries pistol were compared to bullets submitted in another incident and an identification was made. The bullet itemized in the table below was identified as having been discharged from item 1A SCCY Industries Pistol.

Based on the above facts and circumstances, your affiant believes probable cause exists to charge the defendant, Elijah Law (DOB: ███████), with the crimes listed in this criminal complaint.