The detectives told the jury they had never seen blue bullets at a crime scene.
But when they got bullet fragments back from two victims shot at Ballers Hookah Lounge & Cigar Bar in Penn Hills nearly two years ago, scientists from the Allegheny County crime lab reported they had a blue polymer coating.
It’s the same coating, they testified, that they found on bullets turned over by the club’s security guard in the days after the shooting.
That evidence will likely be crucial as the jury begins deliberating charges of criminal homicide, aggravated assault and recklessly endangering against the guard, Chaz Jackson.
Jackson, 43, of Pittsburgh is on trial this week before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jill E. Rangos.
Investigators said he was working at Ballers, an after-hours club, in the early morning of June 2, 2024, when a gun was fired inside the club.
Jackson, detectives said, pulled his own weapon and fired at least three shots.
One struck Stephanie Stuart, 28, in the head, killing her, the prosecution said. Another struck a different woman, who survived.
A man was also killed that morning, Nathaniel Smiley, 44, of Pittsburgh. But investigators believe he was shot by someone else who has not been charged.
Seven other men and women were hurt in the gunfire.
Investigators have said Jackson did not know the victims and likely had no motive to shoot them.
On Thursday afternoon, the prosecution rested its case. The jury is expected to hear closing arguments Friday.
Evolving story
During testimony Thursday, Allegheny County homicide Det. Steve Hitchings told the jury he interviewed Jackson at least three times in the days after the shooting.
At each turn, Hitchings said, Jackson’s story evolved.
Initially, the detective said, Jackson denied firing his weapon at all. Instead, he said, he heard a gunshot from inside the club, saw a commotion and a woman falling backward.
During his interview the next day, Jackson told Hitchings he believed that after the first shot, the woman returned fire at a man three times.
“He thought she got shot in the exchange of gunfire,” Hitchings said.
Then, on June 4, 2024, Jackson changed his story again, Hitchings said, telling the detective that after he heard the first gunshot, he got knocked to the ground and again saw three muzzle flashes. But in that version, Hitchings said, Jackson said he pulled his gun.
After Hitchings continued to press him, Jackson admitted his gun fired, but that it wasn’t intentional.
That same day, Jackson handed over an unloaded 9 mm handgun — the one he carried that night.
Jackson had a permit to carry a concealed gun.
A day later, Jackson gave police the 15 bullets that he said had been in his gun the night of the shooting.
They had a blue polymer coating consistent with what had been removed from two of the victims, Hitchings said.
‘She wasn’t moving’
Also testifying Thursday via video was Michael Ware Jr. Ware said he was at the club that night and met up with Stuart. He saw her go through security, he said, and he told the jury he never saw her with a gun.
After he heard the first shot, Ware said the whole crowd started moving toward the door, and he and Stuart followed.
“She was in front of me,” he said.
But when they heard additional shots, Ware said his instincts told him to hit the ground.
When he felt it was safe to get up, he tried to get Stuart up, too.
“She wasn’t moving,” he said.
Ballers, which had no liquor license, was operating as a bar and strip club at the time.
It closed permanently in September 2024.
The owners are being sued by the families of the victims for wrongful death and negligence. Both lawsuits are still pending in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court.