Investigation into Brownsville fatal stabbing continues; no charges filed
BROWNSVILLE – The investigation is continuing into a fatal stabbing and a shooting in Brownsville early Sunday, though so far no charges have been filed. Members of the Pennsylvania state police have been conducting interviews and say they have developed several leads for suspects in both the stabbing and the shooting that occurred within minutes of one another outside the Brownsville Hotel.
Trooper David Simpson said the police want the information to be reviewed by Fayette County District Attorney Nancy Vernon.
“We haven’t been able to be debriefed too much because of the Ellerbe matter,” Vernon said on Tuesday.
Vernon spent Monday at the coroner’s inquest into the death of 12-year-old Michael Ellerbe of Uniontown, who was killed when he was shot in the back by a state trooper during a foot chase on Christmas Eve.
She was in court most of the day Tuesday on other matters and had not spoken to the investigating officers.
The incidents occurred around 1:20 a.m. Sunday. Police were initially called to the Brownsville Hotel on Market Street in Brownsville to deal with a fight at the bar. As Brownsville officer Autumn Fike arrived on the scene, she heard gunfire from the rear of the hotel and found Wilfredo Smith, 29, of Uniontown, lying in a parking lot along Spring Street.
Smith had apparently been shot in the back.
He was flown to Allegheny General Hospital, where he underwent surgery Monday. Because he is a gunshot victim, the hospital is withholding information about his condition.
According to the state police, Smith was not in the bar when the initial fight broke out. They are not certain what led to his shooting.
Bar owner Mike Shanaberger said a disc jockey who was performing at the bar first alerted him to a potential fight. Shanaberger turned on the lights and shut down the music, announcing that the bar was closing.
Shanaberger said that’s when the fighting began and it spilled over into the upper Market Street parking lot, across Fifth Avenue from the hotel.
A large pool of blood was found in the parking lot. It is believed to have been from stabbing victim Robert Bristol, 24, of Monessen.
Bristol was pronounced dead at Brownsville General Hospital less than an hour later.
He had been taken to the hospital by private vehicle.
Brownsville police turned the investigation over to the state police due to a manpower shortage.