1,000 People Were There. Derrick Davis Is Still Waiting for Justice.
Nearly two years after gunfire tore through a massive crowd on State Street in Clairton, Pennsylvania, detectives are still trying to identify who killed 28-year-old Derrick Tyler Davis.
By RICHIE D MOWREY for The Sassy Gazette’s Dicking Around With Richie: A True Crime Feed
EDITOR’S NOTE: Witnesses reported approximately 1,000 people were in the crowd that night, according to Allegheny County Police. That does not mean 1,000 people witnessed the shooting itself. Police have said, however, that they know there are people who saw what happened leading up to Derrick’s death.
A NIGHT THAT LEFT ONE FAMILY WAITING FOR ANSWERS
Clairton, Pennsylvania.
Labor Day weekend.
The early morning hours of September 1, 2024.
State Street was crowded. Police were already responding to reports of a large gathering and physical fights.
Then came the gunfire.
More than a dozen shots.
Three men wounded.
One of them was 28-year-old Derrick Tyler Davis.
Derrick had been shot in the back.
He managed to get into a vehicle and leave the chaos behind, but approximately a mile away, according to Allegheny County Police, the vehicle crashed.
Derrick was taken to a hospital.
He did not survive.
Nearly two years later, there is still no publicly identified person responsible for killing him.
And one number continues to hang over the case:
Approximately 1,000 people.
Not 1,000 confirmed eyewitnesses.
Not 1,000 people who necessarily saw a gun fired.
But witnesses estimated a crowd of roughly 1,000, and police say there are people who saw what happened leading up to Derrick’s death.
Someone walked away from State Street knowing something.
Maybe more than one someone.
And Derrick’s family is still waiting for that information to finally reach investigators.
WHO DERRICK WAS
Before Derrick became the name attached to an unsolved homicide, he had already lived 28 years as someone’s son, brother, nephew, friend, classmate and loved one.
Derrick Tyler Davis was born August 1, 1996, in McKeesport, Pennsylvania.
He graduated from Propel Homestead in 2014.
His obituary names his parents as Brooke J. Davis and Jeffrey Howard and identifies a large extended family who survived him. It also preserves two wonderfully ordinary details that matter because murder so often strips people down to dates and police language.
Derrick loved animals.
He was devoted to his French Bulldog, Nala, and the family cat, Simba.
Those are the things case summaries rarely tell us.
What animal waited for someone to come through the door.
Who texted first.
Who gave the giant hugs.
Who showed up when someone needed something.
Derrick’s uncle, Brandon Davis, gave the public a glimpse of that man after his death.
He described Derrick as genuine and kind and said he would “give you the clothes off of his back” without asking for anything in return. Brandon also remembered the affection Derrick showed through what his grandmother called a “Derrick hug.”
That is Derrick Davis.
Not “one dead, two injured.”
Not another number in a crime report.
Derrick.
STATE STREET BEFORE THE SIRENS
State Street has existed in Clairton for generations.
Long before police tape and television cameras arrived there in September 2024, it was part of the fabric of a Mon Valley community shaped by homes, businesses, families and decades of local history.
That context matters.
Because crime scenes do not begin their lives as crime scenes.
They are streets where people live.
Places where somebody bought food.
Where somebody walked home.
Where somebody remembered being young.
Then one morning changes what a street name means forever.
THE TIMELINE
3:34 A.M.
Allegheny County 9-1-1 was notified about the large gathering in the 400 block of State Street.
Multiple municipal police departments responded to assist Clairton police with crowd control.
This detail matters because some initial breaking-news reports rounded the police response to approximately 4 a.m.
The later official account gives the more precise 3:34 a.m. notification time.
That does not make the early reporting sinister or misleading.
Breaking news develops.
Later official records can provide greater precision.
What we will not do is invent a story about audited dispatch logs or forensic reviews that have never been publicly produced.
The record says 3:34 a.m.
That is where we stay.
BETWEEN 3:34 AND 4:10 A.M.
Police encountered physical fighting in the crowd.
And here comes another important line in the sand.
We know fighting happened.
We do not know whether one of those fights caused the shooting.
No publicly released evidence establishes that connection.
That distinction matters because once assumptions harden into retellings, they become almost impossible to pry back out of a case.
4:10 A.M.
Responding officers heard gunfire.
Investigators later determined that more than a dozen shots were fired.
Three men were wounded.
Derrick was one of them.
Two other men suffered nonfatal gunshot wounds, one reportedly to the arm and the other to the leg. Their identities have not been publicly released in the material reviewed for this story.
Derrick was shot in the back.
And somehow, wounded, he got into a vehicle.
Then he drove.
THE DRIVE AWAY FROM STATE STREET
Allegheny County Police later said Derrick traveled approximately one mile from the shooting scene.
What happened inside that vehicle during those moments has not been publicly established.
We do not know whether Derrick knew who shot him.
We do not know whether he had seen the shooter.
We do not know why he lost control of the vehicle.
We do not know whether his gunshot wound alone caused him to crash or whether other circumstances contributed.
Those gaps matter.
Because possibility is not evidence.
What is documented is devastating enough.
The vehicle struck a Duquesne Light utility pole.
The pole snapped.
The vehicle overturned.
A power outage followed.
Nearby resident Carolyn Williams later recalled the power going out and hearing a popping sound when it happened.
Derrick was transported to a hospital.
He died.
THE CROWD
Then we come back to the number.
Approximately 1,000.
Allegheny County Police say witnesses reported approximately 1,000 people were in the crowd.
Police also say:
“We know there are people who saw what happened leading up to Derrick’s death.”
Read that carefully.
Police did not say every person saw the shooter.
They did not say 1,000 eyewitnesses refused to cooperate.
But investigators are telling the public that there are people who saw important events leading up to Derrick’s death.
Maybe someone saw a fight escalate.
Maybe someone saw a weapon.
Maybe someone remembers who suddenly disappeared.
Maybe somebody filmed something without realizing what was captured in the background.
Maybe someone heard a conversation later.
Maybe somebody has spent almost two years convincing themselves their piece is too small to matter.
It might not be.
A homicide investigation is rarely solved by one cinematic revelation.
Sometimes it is solved because one person finally hands police the puzzle piece that connects to another.
MULTIPLE FIREARMS RECOVERED
Investigators determined that more than a dozen shots had been fired and recovered multiple firearms from the scene.
What police have not publicly disclosed is just as important.
We do not know whether one of those firearms fired the shot that killed Derrick.
We do not know publicly how many shooters there were.
We do not know whether the fatal projectile was recovered.
We do not know whether ballistic testing connected a recovered weapon to Derrick.
We do not know whether Derrick was specifically targeted.
And despite Derrick’s uncle describing him as an innocent man in the wrong place at the wrong time, investigators have not publicly declared him a bystander.
That family belief deserves to be heard.
It just needs to remain identified as the family’s belief rather than transformed into a police finding.
THE CLAIRTONIAN QUESTION
Because the shooting happened during Labor Day weekend, the gathering became tangled almost immediately with discussion surrounding the longstanding Clairtonian reunion.
Organizer Lamont Lewis pushed back publicly against that connection.
Lewis told WPXI that the official Clairtonian event was separate from the gathering where the violence occurred.
That distinction matters.
The shooting happened during the same holiday weekend.
That does not automatically mean the official reunion caused, organized or sanctioned the gathering.
Again:
Same weekend is not the same thing as proven connection.
SEPTEMBER 2, 2024: A COMMUNITY GATHERS FOR DERRICK
The next day, the flashing police lights gave way to something quieter.
Family.
Friends.
Neighbors.
Green and white balloons.
A vigil was held in McKeesport for Derrick.
Family friend Roberta Rodman remembered him simply:
“He was a sweetheart.”
She described Derrick as a well-respected young man who would do anything for anybody.
Then came her plea:
“Put the guns down. Love each other, you know?”
There is nothing complicated about that request.
Yet here we are.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Derrick’s case contains numbers large enough to dominate a headline.
1,000.
More than a dozen.
Three people shot.
One life lost.
But the people who knew Derrick speak in completely different measurements.
Kindness.
Generosity.
Love.
Hugs.
Brandon Davis wrote:
“Everyone that knew Derrick, knew how genuine and kind he was.”
Roberta Rodman remembered:
“He was a sweetheart.”
And police continue saying there are people who saw what happened leading up to Derrick’s death.
Those statements belong beside one another.
One tells us who Derrick was.
One tells us how he was remembered.
And one tells us why this case can still move.
WHAT WE STILL DO NOT KNOW
Nearly two years later, several questions remain unanswered publicly:
- Who fired the shot that killed Derrick Davis?
- Was there one shooter or more than one?
- Was Derrick targeted?
- Did one of the fights preceding the gunfire have anything to do with his death?
- Did one of the recovered firearms fire the fatal shot?
- What photographs or videos from that massive gathering have investigators seen?
- What do police know that they have not released?
- Who was the individual reportedly detained at the scene, and did that detention have any relevance to Derrick’s homicide?
And among the hundreds upon hundreds of people who were there:
Who still knows something they have never said out loud?
THE CASE IS STILL UNSOLVED
Derrick’s name eventually appeared on Allegheny County Police’s Unsolved Homicides page.
The public appeal is direct.
Witnesses reported approximately 1,000 people in the crowd.
Police know people saw what happened leading up to Derrick’s death.
Detectives are still seeking information.
There has been no publicly identified killer in the material reviewed for this case.
That means this story is not finished.
An unsolved case is not a closed book.
It is a book missing pages.
And somebody out there may still be holding one.
HAVE INFORMATION?
Anyone with information about Derrick Tyler Davis’s homicide is asked to contact:
Allegheny County Police Tip Line
1-833-ALL-TIPS
Callers can remain anonymous.
You do not have to know everything.
You do not have to solve the case yourself.
You do not have to decide whether your information matters.
Give investigators the piece.
Let them decide where it fits.
SOMEONE KNOWS SOMETHING. SAY IT.
Derrick Davis was 28 years old.
He had people who loved him.
A dog named Nala.
A family cat named Simba.
Friends who remembered his kindness.
A grandmother who apparently knew exactly what a Derrick hug felt like.
On September 1, 2024, somebody took all of that away.
Almost two years later, the people left behind are still waiting for a name.
For an arrest.
For an answer.
For justice.
Approximately 1,000 people were reportedly in that crowd.
Not all of them saw what happened.
But police believe some people did.
Maybe one of them is finally ready to talk.
SOMEONE KNOWS SOMETHING. SAY IT.
Thanks for dicking around with Richie. Keep being a voice for the voiceless.
Sources and Further Reading
Primary and supporting sources used in this casefile include the Allegheny County Police Department Unsolved Homicides listing, contemporary reporting from WPXI, CBS Pittsburgh and Tribune-Review, Derrick Tyler Davis’s obituary through Jaycox-Jaworski Funeral Home, and the family’s public GoFundMe organized by Brandon Davis.
Research note: This article deliberately separates confirmed information from family characterization, media reporting, and unanswered questions. Claims about specific medical conditions, gang involvement, intoxication, motive, ballistic matches, criminal networks, or investigative tactics were excluded because the publicly available evidence reviewed for this story does not establish them.
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