Police have arrested a Pittsburgh man in a shooting that left an elderly man critically injured Wednesday in the city’s Larimer neighborhood.
Rawvil Yamil Brito Chirinos, 25, is accused of shooting a 70-year-old man in the stomach and stealing his wedding ring and some cash outside Corner View Nursing and Rehabilitation Center at about 12:30 p.m. in the 6600 block of Frankstown Avenue.
The shot that struck the victim exited through his back, according to a complaint filed by Pittsburgh police. He was able to make it from his pickup truck into the nursing and rehab facility where he provided a description of his assailant. He was taken to UPMC Presbyterian hospital in critical condition, police said.
According to the complaint, the victim told medics he was visiting his brother at the Corner View center when he was robbed and shot.
Using area surveillance video, police said they tracked the movements of a man matching the description of the suspect from the area of the Homewood Healthy Active Living senior center to the scene of the shooting. As the victim moved slowly toward the entrance of Corner View, the suspect was seen fleeing along Washington Boulevard, police said.
Police said city detectives on Friday stopped and detained a man in the 6500 block of Frankstown who matched the suspect’s video image. While questioning the man at police headquarters, detectives confiscated a gold ring he removed from a gold necklace.
Police said they seized the ring because it was crucial evidence in the case and might have been swallowed or concealed by the suspect.
According to the complaint, a witness at a pawn shop about a block away from where the man was detained told police the same man had attempted to pawn a similar ring at the shop but was turned away because the shop staff couldn’t verify that it was made of gold.
The victim’s son identified the ring as his father’s wedding band, police said.
Police arrested Brito Chirinos on charges of attempted homicide, reckless endangerment, aggravated assault and robbery. He was awaiting a preliminary hearing.
Police said the suspect identified himself as “Rull Brito” when he was detained. According to the complaint, police learned his actual name after contacting a border patrol agent.