news archive

No arrests have been reported in the fatal shooting of a McKeesport man.

Police said Thomas Holmes, 44, of Fairview Avenue, was shot at least twice along the 600 block of Madison Street last night.

There are few clues following McKeesport's first homicide of 2003, which occurred in the city's Fifth Ward near Fairview Cemetery.

"We don't have any idea," Police Chief Ron Willard said when asked about a motive. "We're in the dark at this point."

City and Allegheny County homicide detectives are investigating the shooting, which happened around 8 p.m.

Willard said a city detective on routine patrol passed the scene shortly after 8.

"Within minutes, one of our detectives just happened to be driving by," he said.

Willard said the detective thought it was a domestic incident because of the screaming he heard near the shooting scene.

Holmes apparently was shot in the abdomen and went to a bystander for help.

"The witness said he was holding his hip," Willard said. "(Holmes) indicated to the witness that he was shot and (asked the witness to) call the police."

The chief said the witness went into his home to call police, at which time Holmes apparently was shot in the head.

"The witness didn't see the shooting," Willard said. "It's sketchy, but that's what we believe happened."

County detectives worked on the case until 3 a.m. today, Willard said. The county homicide unit could not be reached this morning.

Allegheny County Coroner's office said Holmes was pronounced dead at the scene at 8:13 p.m. An autopsy was scheduled for this morning.

City officials confirmed early today that Holmes was the son of retired McKeesport Assistant Police Chief Sylvester Holmes.

Police are asking the public's help in finding the killer. Anyone with information can call McKeesport police at 412-675-5015 or county homicide at 412-473-3000.


For police in eastern Allegheny County, last night was a busy one, with three separate shootings. One man was killed in Pittsburgh's Homewood section, while another was wounded in Wilkinsburg. None are believed to be related.

While Holmes was the city's first homicide victim of the year, he was the city's third adult murder victim in the past three months.

Two unrelated slayings occurred in a one-week period in mid-November.

Mary Howard, 20, of Crawford Village, was shot to death in the early hours of Nov. 21 at a bar near the housing complex. No arrests have been reported in that incident.

In the pre-dawn hours of Nov. 17, Michael Mack, 43, was found slashed to death in his Myer Boulevard home. A day later, Rodney Smith, 36, of Duquesne Avenue, turned himself in and was later charged with homicide.

While there were several serious shooting incidents in McKeesport in the past year, Mack, Howard and a 15-month-old boy were the city's only homicides of 2002.

James Ferree, 41, awaits trial in the June 19 death of his girlfriend's son, James Walsh. Another local murder suspect, Kevin Worlds, is awaiting trial in connection with the Oct. 17, 1998, stabbing death of Liane Evans, 21, of McKeesport. His trial is set to begin March 31 before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge David Cashman.

City and Allegheny County police are investigating three shootings, including two fatalities, that took place in a five-hour period Thursday.

The incidents occurred in Pittsburgh's Homewood section, McKeesport and Wilkinsburg.

In Homewood, Russell Jones, 20, was reportedly slain ambush-style in his car after leaving a deli in the 700 block of Hamilton Avenue. The incident occurred at about 5:30 p.m., and Jones died at a hospital about one hour later, police said.

In McKeesport, police said that Thomas Holmes, 44, was shot and killed at 8:15 p.m. while walking on Walnut Street.

[ED. - The shooting took place at Fairview Avenue and Madison Street.]

And in Wilkinsburg, police said Dwayne Proctor, 25, was shot at about 10:30 p.m. on Rebecca Avenue. Proctor was in critical condition Friday at UPMC Presbyterian.

Norris St. Rogers, 19, was arrested early Friday in connection with the Wilkinsburg shooting. Police believe Rogers and Proctor were arguing about a woman.

Allegheny County police made an arrest in the shooting of a Wilkinsburg man, but were still seeking suspects in the killing of a McKeesport man.

Thomas Clinton Holmes, 44, of Fairview Street, in McKeesport, was fatally shot on the doorstep of a home on Madison Avenue shortly before 8 p.m. Thursday, police said. Investigators had no motive or suspects in the shooting.

About 50 minutes later, Duane Proctor, 25, of Wilkinsburg, was shot several times on the street outside 828 Rebecca Street. Proctor remained hospitalized in critical condition this afternoon, police said.

Witnesses identified Norris Saint Rogers, 22, as the man who fired the shots. County detectives and Wilkinsburg police arrested Rogers at his home on Mill Street a few hours later. He is charged with attempted homicide and aggravated assault.

Separate shootings take lives of 2 men

By Dan Gigler
Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Friday, January 10, 2003

Wilkinsburg man critically wounded

Two people were shot and killed and a third was critically injured in separate incidents around Allegheny County last night, all in the space of about three hours.

The deadly night began shortly before 6 p.m. in Homewood, followed by another fatal shooting in McKeesport and then the wounding in Wilkinsburg.

In the first homicide, city police were looking for suspects in the ambush-style slaying of a man as he sat in his car after leaving a Homewood deli.

The Allegheny County coroner's office identified the victim as Russell Jones, 20, of Homewood. Jones was shot multiple times at 5:51 p.m. in the 7000 block of Hamilton Avenue. The victim had parked his black sedan and gone into Mika's Market, 7003 Hamilton Ave., to get some takeout sandwiches. When he returned to his car and got in, he was shot in the upper chest. He was taken to UPMC Presbyterian, where he died at 6:30 p.m.

Detective Dennis Logan said that an assailant or assailants lay in wait in a vacant lot next to the market and ambushed the man once he was in his car. The lot was thick with tall, overgrown weeds which would have provided sufficient cover for a suspect. Despite the shooting taking place in the middle of a residential street, police said that no witnesses have stepped forward.

Homicide detectives are investigating the shooting but had no immediate suspects last night.

Few details were available on the other two shootings.

Thomas Holmes, 44, of McKeesport, was shot and killed with a gunshot to the head around 8:15 p.m.

The shooting happened on Walnut Street in McKeesport.

[ED. - The shooting took place at Fairview Avenue and Madison Street.]

The third shooting occurred at an apartment building at 828 Rebecca Ave. in Wilkinsburg.

The victim was found in the front yard of the building and was shot multiple times, said Assistant County Police Superintendent James Morton. The victim was taken to UPMC Presbyterian where he was in critical condition.

Police were called to the scene around 9 p.m.

The second shooting, which occurred shortly before 8 p.m. Thursday, resulted in the death of Thomas C. Holmes, 44, of Fairview Street.

Thomas C. Holmes

Duane Proctor

Norris S. Rogers

The Rev. Sylvester Holmes remembers his son as a "a happy-go-lucky person."

But for years Thomas Clinton Holmes struggled with drug addiction. The battle ended shortly before 8 p.m. Thursday with him screaming for help on the doorstep of a McKeesport home, moments before being gunned down.

Holmes, 44, of Fairview Street, McKeesport, died of multiple gunshot wounds.

"There is a good possibility that it was drug-related," said Sylvester Holmes, pastor of Zion Baptist Church in McKeesport and a retired McKeesport assistant police chief.

According to court documents, Holmes had several convictions for theft, drug possession and drug-dealing dating back to the early 1990s.

"He fought his demons for several years," McKeesport police Chief Ronald Willard said.

Allegheny County police said that moments before his death Holmes banged on the door at the Madison Street home, pleading for help.

"Please help me, they're trying to kill me," Holmes screamed, according to county homicide Sgt. Jeffrey Korczyk.

The unnamed neighbor, fearing for the safety of his 9-year-old daughter and himself, locked his front door, Korczyk said. Seconds later the neighbor heard gunshots and felt a bullet smash into the steel door as he braced himself against it.

The neighbor did not see the men who chased Holmes from a nearby alleyway to Madison Street, Korczyk said.

Willard said detectives who were patrolling near the site were at the scene within minutes.

Police said they have no motive or suspects in the killing. Detectives continued to collect shell casings from a .380-caliber handgun both on the doorstep and in the nearby alley yesterday.

Holmes' father said his son, the second of four children, had served two years in the Army and had undergone rehabilitation for a drug addiction.

Thomas Holmes, who was unemployed and receiving disability payments, was divorced and had a daughter, Tawni Lynn Holmes, 16, and a stepson, Krist Ryan, 22.

"It's a vicious circle," the Rev. Sylvester Holmes said. "It's almost to the place now where the street level is a battlefield."

Holmes knows of which he speaks. He saw the circle of drugs, money and violence envelop a member of his family.

A week ago, his son, Thomas Holmes, 44, was gunned down outside a home along the 600 block of Madison Street in McKeesport.

The victim's father knew the circle from another vantage point - as an inspector and, for 90 days some years ago, interim chief of police in McKeesport.

"This case was sort of special because it involved the family of one of our own," current Chief Ron Willard said after city and Allegheny County police announced the arrest of a McKeesport man in connection the slaying.

"It was self-defense," muttered Joseph Rhone , also known as Joseph Nixon, 20, of Shaw Avenue, as he was driven from county police headquarters in Pittsburgh's Point Breeze section to Allegheny County Jail. "I have no other comment."

"There are shreds of truth that run through his statement," county homicide Sgt. Jeffrey Korczyk said.

However, Korczyk termed the self-defense claim "self-serving" and said there was no evidence that Holmes was armed when he was shot in the head, left arm and abdomen the night of Jan. 9.

Holmes tried to get into a house during the hail of bullets - and, Korczyk said, one .380-caliber slug went through the front door, just missing a man inside.

County police cited revenge as a possible motive.

"The victim had provided reliable information in the past regarding the sales and possession of illegal drugs, in the McKeesport area," a police affidavit stated.

The affidavit noted that Holmes' information led to the Jan. 8 arrest of Makinma Gustave, 30, for possession of illegal drugs. Gustave is the half-sister of Joseph Rhone.

"(Rhone) characterized it as an argument over a drug transaction," the county homicide detective said. "He wasn't real specific as to the date. He characterized it as being in the summer."

Willard applauded what he termed the latest example of "an excellent working relationship with Allegheny County police."

The suspect, his brother Yusef Rhone, and Darrell Collins, all of McKeesport, were arrested by city and county police earlier this week for an unrelated incident in Crawford Village.

All three face a Thursday hearing on charges of criminal conspiracy and terroristic threats before District Justice Thomas Brletic.

Joseph Rhone, who was jailed in lieu of $25,000 bond in the Crawford Village case, was held without bond for the Holmes slaying, pending a Jan. 27 inquest.

Holmes' father and sister were on hand when police announced the arrest. Petrie Holmes said she's in a state of disbelief.

"I'm not comfortable with the arrest," she said. "It just does not go together. That's my gut reaction."

But Sylvester Holmes said he was "truly grateful for the work the police have done to make an arrest."

The elder Holmes served as a police officer for 25 years, 12 of them in a position listed as assistant chief by Mayor Thomas Fullard.

Under Mayor Louis Washowich, the post was recategorized as inspector of operations. Holmes trained in 1979 at the FBI academy, and retired in 1988.

Another calling came to him in the 1980s. For 11 years, the elder Holmes was pastor of a church in Scottdale. For the past four years, he's been associate pastor of Zion Baptist Church in McKeesport.

"There for the grace of God go I," he said. "Every one of us has weaknesses."

He said his son was a good man when he was younger.

"If Tommy was working for anyone, it was Tommy and his drug habit over the years," the father said.

He said his son thought money from the police for being an informant was as good as money from any other source.

The Rev. Sylvester A. Holmes, the former McKeesport police chief and current assistant minister at Zion Baptist Church, talked frankly about how his son, Thomas C. Holmes, came to be killed in McKeesport Jan. 9.

The younger Holmes, 44, of Fairview Street, a convicted drug dealer and user, was for years a confidential informant for McKeesport and other police agencies.

The latter avocation likely was a motive in his slaying, Allegheny County police said yesterday in announcing an arrest in the case.

Holmes, who was a law officer for 25 years, said that his son didn't work for police to get drugs off the street but to get money to put them into his system.

"If Tommy was working for anybody it really was for Tommy because of the drug habit he had over the years," his father said. "His primary goal was to support his habit in any way he could. It was a vicious cycle."

Allegheny County homicide Sgt. Jeffrey Korczyk said the arrest of a Braddock woman, on information provided by Holmes, is what led to his killing by the woman's half-brother, Joseph Rhone. Rhone was charged yesterday with homicide.

McKeesport police arrested Makinma Gustave, 30, on drug possession charges the day before Holmes was killed. Police said that because of that, Rhone, 20, of Shaw Avenue, sought out Holmes, who lived nearby, and chased him about a half block until he was able to gun him down with a silver .380-caliber pistol in front of a home on Madison Avenue.

Witnesses told police they had heard four gunshots, a period of silence of about a minute and then four or five more shots. An autopsy showed Holmes died of multiple gunshots to the head and body.

He may have already been wounded when he tried to seek safety at 637 Madison, telling the resident there, "Please help me. They're trying to shoot me." Before the resident could call 911 from inside his house, he heard gunfire and then found Holmes dead on his stoop.

Rhone, who also is known as Joseph Nixon, was arrested on the homicide charge yesterday morning in the Allegheny County Jail. He had been there since Wednesday when he was arrested by McKeesport police on an unrelated terroristic threats charge stemming from an incident earlier on Jan. 9. In that incident, police said, Rhone had displayed a silver pistol, the same color as the one he was seen with as he chased and shot at Holmes.

Rhone's brother, Yusef Rhone, 19, with whom he lived, told police his brother had a silver .380-caliber pistol, according to an affidavit supporting the arrest warrant.

Moreover, the affidavit said, Yusef Rhone told police that on the day of Holmes' fatal shooting, the brothers had discussed how Holmes had "set up" their sister and Joseph Rhone left their residence on foot. He said his brother knew where Holmes lived, that he heard multiple gunshots in the general vicinity and that his brother returned to their home and said he had just shot Holmes.

Korczyk said Joseph Rhone, who has an arrest record for drugs, conspiracy, burglary and open lewdness, admitted to detectives that he had killed Holmes. Rhone said the men had argued over a drug deal from 2002 and that he shot Holmes in self defense, an allegation Korczyk dismissed as "self-serving" and baseless.

Evidence will be presented against Rhone at a coroner's hearing Jan. 27.

For the elder Holmes, no more evidence is needed about the scourge of drugs.

"My son was a very good young man," he said. "There but for the grace of God go I. We all have our weaknesses. Drug addiction is one of the worst.

"It's my son today. It could be your sons or daughters tomorrow."