Investigation continues into fatal stabbing in Brownsville
BROWNSVILLE – The investigation is continuing into a bar fight that spilled into the streets late last month and left one man dead and another critically wounded – but police say the progress is slow. “We’re having a hard time getting anyone to come forward to say what they saw,” said state police Cpl. Timothy Cross.
Brownsville police were called to a fight at the Brownsville Hotel in the early hours of Jan. 28. Upon arriving at the scene, officer Autumn Fike heard gunfire from the rear of the hotel, where she found Wilfredo Smith, 29, of Uniontown, shot in a parking lot. It was only after Smith was taken to the hospital that police found out that another man, Robert Bristol, 24, of Monessen, had been taken to the hospital in a private vehicle with a fatal stab wound around that same time.
State police were asked to take over the investigation due to the limited manpower of the Brownsville department. According to investigators, the stabbing may have occurred in the bar during a scuffle between a group of people from Monessen and a group from Republic. Witnesses said there was a large pool of blood in the Upper Market Street parking lot.
Trooper David Simpson said Smith was not in the bar at the time of the fight, but came in with a friend shortly after it was over. Smith was shot after leaving the bar a few minutes after arriving there.
Cross said the police have had some difficulty identifying all of the people with the Monessen group and locating them for questioning.
“Some of them are on probation and they haven’t even reported to their probation officers for a couple of weeks,” Cross said.
Cross said he was waiting to get the list of suspects in an attorney general’s office drug raid in the Monessen area Wednesday to see if any of those picked up in the raid were among those wanted for questioning in the Brownsville incident.
Cross said Smith has been interviewed and shown photos. Cross said that while Smith was able to identify some people as having been in the bar, he has been unable to identify the person who shot him.
Smith was shot in the back and was initially in critical condition. He has undergone several surgeries and is currently in stable condition, Cross said.