Eugene Thomas David III, a 19-year-old African-American man from Braddock, Pennsylvania, was known to his family as a source of motivation and a young man with a bright future. To his mother, Crystal Price, he was one of her four children, her oldest son, whose music she listened to every morning. Eugene was an aspiring rapper who went by the name “Booga-C,” and his voice gave his mother the strength to face the days after he was gone. Friends and family believed in his potential, with his mother recalling that "people used to say he would run for mayor." A graduate of Woodland Hills High School, Eugene had just completed his first year at the Community College of Allegheny County and was thinking about applying to a four-year university. In the summer of 2014, he was working as a laborer, landscaping and painting at the Northview Heights housing complex, a place his mother said was "home for him."
The afternoon of July 30, 2014, was the last of Eugene’s life. He had just finished his shift at Northview Heights when an argument broke out between two groups of men in the 300 block of Penfort Street, near Mount Pleasant Road. Around 2:45 p.m., the argument escalated into a gunfight. According to police descriptions provided to his family, one man standing near Eugene fired first, and others across the street returned fire. Eugene was not involved in the dispute; he was an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire. As he tried to run away from the chaos, a stray bullet struck him in the eye, killing him almost instantly. When Pittsburgh police arrived, they found Eugene lying in the street. He was pronounced dead at the scene. A second person was also wounded in the shooting and was taken to Allegheny General Hospital for treatment.
The investigation into Eugene’s murder was handled by Pittsburgh homicide detectives. His mother, Crystal Price, met with investigators several times. They informed her that they had collected significant evidence, including surveillance footage of the shooting, witness statements, and the results of ballistic and fingerprint analysis. Despite this evidence, no arrests have ever been made in the case. The lack of resolution left his family in an emotional limbo. "I want justice for my son. I don't want revenge anymore," Ms. Price said in an interview months after his death. "Nothing's going to ever bring Eugene back." The pain was still fresh a year later, when she expressed her frustration that no one had been charged. A public safety spokeswoman stated at the time that the lead detective was "continuing to work all angles."
Eugene’s death was one of 66 homicides in the city of Pittsburgh in 2014, which was the city’s deadliest year since 2008. More than half of those cases, including Eugene's, remained unsolved by the year's end. The loss was devastating for his family. Ms. Price was at her office working for an insurance company when she saw she had seven missed calls. Her daughter delivered the news that Eugene had been shot. They were stuck in traffic on the Veterans Bridge when Ms. Price’s sister called to tell her he was gone. The funeral was so crowded that some people had to be turned away. In the living room of her Forest Hills home, his diploma and photos were displayed on the mantel, constant reminders of a life cut short.
On the one-year anniversary of his death, about 100 people gathered for a vigil at the spot where Eugene was killed. His mother spoke, as did a local chaplain who was working to establish a grief and trauma counseling center in the neighborhood. Kevin Patterson, his mother's fiance, who had also lost a son to gun violence years earlier in Chicago, spoke of the indescribable pain of losing a child. The case remains unsolved. As of the latest reports from July 2015, the Pittsburgh Police investigation was ongoing, but no suspects had been publicly identified or charged in the murder of Eugene David III.
