Seth McDermit talked to his brother, Steve, on FaceTime every day, giving the Missouri-based older sibling a chance to see his nieces and nephews in Pittsburgh.
“And he just told me, ‘If anything ever happens to me, take care of my kids,’” Steve McDermit said Monday. “And that’s my goal.”
Now, Steve McDermit is in Western Pennsylvania, helping to look after those four children and making funeral arrangements for his brother, 31, of Monongahela, who was shot in McKees Rocks early Friday.
Charles Becher, 24, of Carnegie, and Khalil Walls, 25, of Arlington, have been charged with homicide and aggravated assault in connection with the incident in which another man was killed and three other people were injured.
The shootings occurred during an argument outside Club Erotica, a strip club in the 800 block of Island Avenue.
According to a criminal complaint, Mr. McDermit tackled one of the alleged assailants after that person pulled a gun during the confrontation in the parking lot. Another man then drew his firearm and began shooting.
Steve McDermit said his brother, a corrections officer at the Allegheny County Jail, was a firearm owner who had left his gun in a vehicle because it was not allowed inside the club.
“It would’ve ended differently if he had a firearm on him,” Mr. McDermit said. “He died protecting his friends, and that’s what happened.”
Also killed was Christopher Roy Butler, 22, of West Mifflin. His mother, Marcy Butler, said he was the youngest of her four children.
“His heart was as big as the world,” she said, adding that she was told her son also was trying to protect his friends after the argument turned violent.
Mr. Butler, a diesel mechanic, followed a family military tradition and joined the Army when he was 17. He served for more than three years, Ms. Butler said, and had a young daughter.
“He was a good soul that was taken from me over something so senseless,” his mother said.
Last year, the club received cease and desist letters Aug. 25 and Sept. 21 from the Allegheny County Health Department for operating without a health permit.
“Operating a food facility in Allegheny County without a health permit is illegal, and the operation of such a facility must cease immediately,” one of the letters said. “Should the operation continue, the Allegheny County Health Department will be forced to take appropriate enforcement action.”
In October, the club submitted plans to receive a health permit, county spokeswoman Amie Downs said, but those plans did not comply with health regulations.
She declined to comment on any pending actions by the department.
Club Erotica owner Vincenzo “Vince” Isoldi said Monday that he had met with the Allegheny County District Attorney’s office to discuss the shootings, but he would not comment further.
Mike Manko, spokesman for the DA’s office, said he could not comment because he had not been briefed on the meeting.
Pennsylvania State Police’s Bureau of Liquor Control and Enforcement could not be reached Monday about the club’s history. The incident is being investigated by the Allegheny County Police Department.
Mick Stinelli: mstinelli@post-gazette.com; 412-263-1869; and on Twitter @MickStinelli.
First Published: February 2, 2021, 12:34 a.m.
