Police on Thursday continued their search for suspects connected to the killing of a Pittsburgh student outside his high school.
Although they said Thursday morning that there was no new information to share on the investigation, police said the suspected assailants were wearing masks to cover their faces. No one was charged as of Thursday evening.
Fifteen-year-old Marquis Campbell, a student at Oliver Citywide Academy, was identified early Thursday morning as the victim of the shooting.
Tony Esoldo, the principal at Oliver Citywide, knew Marquis for five years.
“Marquis was a really, really bright and funny kid,” he said. “He had a great sense of humor. He didn’t talk a lot, he wasn’t always talking … but whenever he cracked a joke, he could make everybody laugh.”
Mr. Esoldo said Marquis was an involved student who was diligent in his schoolwork and focused on getting prizes with points acquired through the school’s merit system. One year, he even won an iPad. On his first day back in school this year, Marquis and his mother joked that he might win something even bigger, a PlayStation 5, if he got enough points, Mr. Esoldo said.
Marquis’ relationship with his mom and his family are what Mr. Esoldo thinks of most. His mother, he said, moved mountains for him.
“She was like a dream for a principal because she was on the spot, on top of him, always working with us,” he said. “She’s a wonderful partner as a parent.”
Attempts to reach Marquis’ family on Thursday were unsuccessful.
For now, Mr. Esoldo said the school’s focus is on getting through the next few days and supporting one another.
“We’ll come together, we’ll support one another, we’ll heal, we’ll move on,” he said. “It’s obviously very fresh, and it’s going to take us some time.”
Pittsburgh police and Pittsburgh Public Schools said two people on Wednesday approached a nine-passenger school van around 1:45 p.m. — shortly before the school’s dismissal time — and shot into the vehicle, hitting Marquis, who was inside. There were no other reported injuries.
J.V. Orris, the general manager of W.L. Roenigk, the company that owned the school van, said police obtained the involved van and the footage from the dome camera located inside the vehicle. The driver was “shaken up” and is not currently working, Mr. Orris said.
Video below: Mayor Ed Gainey, interim Superintendent Wayne Walters address shooting
The school, a full-time special education center in Marshall-Shadeland, had just returned to in-school learning after using remote instruction because of COVID-19 protocols. PPS describes the facility, which has students in grades 3-12, as “a highly structured school with a school-wide behavioral management system to support the positive behavioral support plans for each student.”
Richard Ford, commander of the city police’s major crimes division, said Wednesday that investigators were reviewing security footage. He also asked anyone with information to come forward.
Jenna Fraser, assistant principal of North Allegheny Intermediate High School, said on Twitter that students at the school held a moment of silence for Marquis on Thursday.
“Our thoughts are with his family, friends, and the entire community,” Ms. Fraser said.
The fatal shooting of Marquis, while unique in that it was on campus, comes during a calendar year in which several school systems in the Pittsburgh area have experienced school-aged children die from gun violence.
A 13-year-old Homewood boy, Denzel Nowlin Jr., was shot and killed in a triple homicide on New Years’ Eve. A 29-year-old man has been charged with the death of Denzel and the two other victims, including Denzel’s mother, Nandi Fitzgerald.
Sto-Rox High School junior Hasson Shackelford, 18, was shot dead Nov. 8. Police have charged a 15-year-old boy with the killing.
Steven Eason, 15, a Central Catholic High School student, died Sept. 10 after being shot at the Haunted Hills Hayride in North Versailles. Another 15-year-old, a student in the Penn Hills School District, was also injured in the shooting.
That shooting remains unsolved.
The Penn Hills School District has lost at least four students to gun violence since May.
Three Penn Hills High School students — Darin Hobdy, DayMeir Boyd and Jason Hubert Jackson Jr., all 17 — were fatally shot between May 15 and May 24. Another 17-year-old Penn HIlls student, Jason Lott, died of a drug overdose April 18.
Police have charged two men with Darin’s killing. No arrests have been made in the deaths of DayMeir or Jason.
A Penn Hills kindergartner, 5-year-old Connor Wolfe, was killed when a 13-year-old sibling accidentally shot him with an unsecured firearm, according to police. The sibling and Connor’s parents were charged in the death.
The incident that led to the death of Marquis outside of Oliver Citywide Academy is not the first time that a school van has been targeted by gunmen in Pittsburgh.
In February 2005, Keith Watts, 16, a student at The Academy — a school for juveniles on court probation — was shot at by youths from a rival gang when he was being let off of a school van at his grandmother’s house in Knoxville. He was killed just over a month later behind Carrick High School.
Vans from The Academy were also targeted by assailants in April 2005 and July 2008, causing numerous injuries.
Post-Gazette staff writer Andrew Goldstein contributed.
First Published: January 20, 2022, 8:13 p.m.
