Pittsburgh police have arrested a city man previously convicted on drug charges in connection with a shooting Downtown earlier this week.
Ray Rivera, 58, of East Liberty, shot a man twice in the arm while the victim was in a car near Smithfield Street on Tuesday afternoon following an argument between the two elsewhere in the city’s central business district, authorities said.
Police charged Rivera with attempted homicide, aggravated assault, two firearms counts and tampering with physical evidence. He was being held without bail on Thursday in the Allegheny County Jail.
The shooting occurred as Pittsburgh police have ramped up patrols Downtown in order to tamp down several highly publicized incidents of violent crime and attacks on strangers.
Rivera was interviewed by police Wednesday afternoon and arrested that day.
A top city official issued a statement Thursday afternoon to the media disclosing that Rivera and Mayor Ed Gainey’s executive assistant are “in a relationship.”
The official, Jake Wheatley, Gainey’s chief of staff, said that the mayor’s assistant did not know about the shooting.
The executive assistant, who police and city officials did not name, “had no knowledge of the incident, is not considered to be a person of interest, is fully cooperating with the investigation, and will not receive any information or details about it,” Wheatley said in a prepared statement.
Wheatley said that the mayor’s office was told Wednesday about the arrest. He declined further comment.
Maria Montaño, a Gainey spokeswoman, said Rivera stopped by the mayor’s office “on occasion,” just like the significant others of many city hall employees.
He did not, however, have “regular, sustained close contact with the mayor,” Montaño said.
Montaño reiterated that the mayor’s assistant has no involvement in the incident.
“She just happened to be dating somebody who allegedly chose to do this,” Montaño said.
Pittsburgh police Chief Larry Scirotto echoed that, saying “there’s no concern on the police side about her involvement or awareness” about the shooting.
“She is unwitting — that’s what we would say,” Scirotto said. “It means she has no knowledge or engagement.”
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Everyone who works in the mayor’s office goes through a background check, according to Montaño.
That includes clearances from the Pennsylvania State Police and checks by Pittsburgh police.
“That doesn’t extend to people that are in our circles,” Montaño said. “It’s probably unfair for those who are in relationships or family members of those of us who live life as public servants to be held to that standard.”
Montano said the administration supports efforts to ban employment discrimination based on prior criminal convictions.
“Those are values we live by,” she said. “We would not say just because somebody had a previous conviction they wouldn’t be allowed in the mayor’s office or they shouldn’t date somebody or be in a relationship.”
Scirotto said police became aware of Rivera’s relationship with Gainey’s assistant after discovering that he was driving the aide’s car. Her name was on the vehicle registration card; his was not.
A criminal complaint detailed the circumstances surrounding the shooting. Rivera and the victim argued Tuesday afternoon outside a Pittsburgh police substation, the complaint said.
Rivera told police that he was Downtown to meet his son to give him money when he began speaking to an old man he knew. He claimed that the victim, who he did not know, approached them and became “argumentative and threatening,” according to the complaint.
A police lieutenant and sergeant walked toward the pair to make sure everything was all right.
“Everything OK with me,” police said Rivera responded.
The lieutenant and sergeant left.
Rivera told police that he then got into his car and drove onto Forbes Avenue. The victim drove up next to Rivera, the complaint said.
“What’chu gonna do?” the victim said, according to Rivera’s account to detectives.
Rivera said the victim then reached for something. Rivera grabbed a gun from a fanny pack around his upper chest and fired twice, police said he admitted.
Rivera told detectives he then drove home, tossing two spent bullet cartridges out of his car window on an area highway, and changed his clothes.
When Pittsburgh police were dispatched around 4:15 p.m. Tuesday to Smithfield Street and Fourth Avenue, they found paramedics already treating the victim for a gunshot wound to his left arm, the complaint said.
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Police found blood on the sidewalk and on the street near the victim, the complaint said. A nearby black Dodge also had blood on it. A trail of blood led to where paramedics found the victim.
First responders took the victim, whom police did not identify, to UPMC Mercy in stable condition.
Video surveillance tracked Rivera’s car to East Liberty, where police arrested him for gun possession in front of his Enright Court home.
Police said that Rivera briefly continued to deny involvement in the shooting, saying, “I’m not saying I didn’t, but he chased the fight.”
A short time later, police said, Rivera admitted to shooting the victim and told investigators that he wanted to give his side of the story.
Police said Rivera cannot legally own a gun due to convictions on multiple felony drug charges under two aliases — Eric Johnson and Eric James.
Rivera was arraigned on Thursday morning, court records show. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 26.
Rivera’s attorney was not listed in court records.