Single gunshot wound cause of teen’s death
While Uniontown police continued their search Wednesday for the person who shot 19-year-old Michael Jointer of Redstone Township on an East End street Monday evening, an autopsy confirmed that he died of a single gunshot wound to the head. Fayette County Coroner Phillip E. Reilly said an autopsy conducted Tuesday in Pittsburgh found the gunshot caused massive cranial and cerebral damage.
He said the shooting was clearly a homicide as there was nothing to suggest it was an accident or suicide.
Jointer was pronounced dead at Uniontown Hospital at 7:31 p.m., about an hour and a half after he was found lying on the street at the intersection of Coolspring and Dunlap streets.
Reilly said the extent of his injuries was so severe that it was unlikely he would have survived even he had been flown to a trauma center in Pittsburgh.
Police Chief Kyle Sneddon said progress is being made in the investigation and there is no apparent connection between the slaying and a Sunday night gunfire incident in the Hunters Ridge housing projects where Jointer lived.
“At this point they appear to be unrelated,” Sneddon said, noting that none of gunshots struck the apartment where Jointer lived. Sneddon and several officers are working on the case and have interviewed approximately 30 people. While the motive behind the shooting remains unclear, Sneddon said, “we have a direction” in the investigation. As of Wednesday, police did not have any suspects in custody and the gun used in the shooting was not recovered. Police did find a shell casing at the scene.