PITTSBURGH, PA — A 15-year-old teen has been charged as an adult in the shooting death Wednesday of one of his classmates outside of Oliver Citywide Academy in the city’s Marshall-Shadeland section.
Jaymier Perry, 15, is accused killing Derrick Harris, 15, shortly before classes were to begin for the day. Perry has been charged as an adult with criminal homicide, possession of a firearm by a minor and firearms not to be carried without a license.
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Perry is being held without bond in the Allegheny County Jail.
The shooting occurred around 7:25 a.m. Police responded to ShotSpotter alerts indicating as many as 11 shots were fired along Brighton Road and found Harris wounded outside the school. He was taken to the hospital, where he died.
A police officer spotted Perry fleeing from the scene with a gun and apprehended him. The 9mm weapon belonged to Perry’s mother, police said.
Surveillance video shows Perry shooting Harris several times and then punching and kicking him, according to police.
Classes were canceled at Oliver on Wednesday, and students will learn remotely today and Friday. They will return to school on May 30 after the Memorial Day holiday.
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey issued a statement Wednesday saying that “no child should ever have to fear going to school and no parent should every worry about their child never coming home.
“We have cultivated a culture of violence and death, celebrated guns and glorified shooting. We have failed as a country to stop the proliferation of guns, and it is far too easy for a young person to get those guns and retaliate in the way our culture has glorified it.”
Gainey called on Pittsburgh to do better, saying, “We have to cultivate a new culture, create a new path forward for our kids.”
Pittsburgh Public Schools released a statement that said in part, “Our thoughts and prayers are with the student’s family. Our schools are designed to be a safe place for teaching and learning. Today, that was not the case for a student who was on his way to school to get an >education.
This is the second fatal shooting at Oliver in little more than a year.
In January 2022, Marquis Campbell, 15, was shot inside a school van outside of the school. Eugene Watson, 18, and Brandon Watson, 17, are facing homicide and other charges in connection with Campbell’s death.