Ernest Adams, a 39-year-old male from Pittsburgh, was killed on the morning of August 17, 2021, inside a duplex on Malden Street in the city’s Marshall-Shadeland neighborhood. Pittsburgh police were first drawn to the 1300 block of Malden Street shortly after 5 a.m. by a ShotSpotter alert. When officers arrived, they found signs that something violent had happened at the home. Police forced their way inside and found Adams behind the front door with multiple gunshot wounds.
He was pronounced dead at the scene, and the Allegheny County Medical Examiner later identified him. His death was treated as a homicide.
In the hours after the shooting, the block filled with police, detectives, and crime-scene investigators. Neighbors described an unsettling scene, with the street blocked off and officers going door to door looking for information. At that point, investigators had not announced a suspect, and the case appeared to begin as a deadly home shooting with few public answers. Family members gathered nearby while detectives worked to understand why Adams had been shot inside his own home.
Years later, investigators said the case began to come together through surveillance footage and digital evidence. According to later reports, security video from the home’s Arlo camera system captured key parts of the incident. Police said the footage showed a woman inside the home with Adams and a gunman wearing a shirt with a PUMA logo firing into the residence. Court paperwork described the gunman allowing the woman to come out of the door before shots were fired, and police said a second shooter was also involved. After the shooting, all three people allegedly fled the area.
Investigators then began tracing what they believed was the suspects’ path before and after the killing. City surveillance cameras helped police identify a maroon Chevrolet as a potential suspect vehicle. Reports said that roughly two hours before the shooting, the same Chevrolet stopped at a Speedway in McKees Rocks. At the pumps, police said the driver, later identified as Jermale Lewis, was seen wearing a shirt with the same PUMA logo connected to the shooting footage. License plate reader information later tied the vehicle to Ramone Harrison.
Police reportedly encountered Harrison the day after the homicide in Carrick. He was not charged in Adams’ killing at that time, but authorities said he led officers on a chase that ended on Novel Way, where he was arrested. The homicide investigation continued for years, and investigators later said they were able to positively identify Lewis, Harrison, and Caia Oliver from earlier footage and other evidence. Oliver was identified in reports as the woman who had been inside Adams’ home at the time of the shooting.
Digital evidence also became a major part of the case. Reports said FBI forensic work later showed GPS locations matching the movements investigators had already outlined. Police also said Lewis and Harrison called Oliver shortly before the shooting while she was inside the home with Adams. After the killing, cell phone data allegedly showed Harrison’s phone viewing a social media post about the murder and searching for “WPXI Breaking News” and “WPXI” within hours of the shooting.
On April 17, 2025, Pittsburgh Police Homicide detectives and the Fugitive Apprehension Unit, assisted by the U.S. Marshals Western Pennsylvania Fugitive Task Force, arrested three suspects in Adams’ killing. Caia Oliver, Ramone Harrison, and Jermale Lewis were taken into custody, interviewed at Pittsburgh Police Headquarters, and transported to the Allegheny County Jail. Police said each of them was charged with criminal homicide and criminal conspiracy. Lewis and Harrison were also charged with persons not to possess firearms. Reports stated that all three were denied bail after their arrests.
The arrests came nearly four years after Adams was found shot to death inside his home. Public reports identified Oliver, Harrison, and Lewis as the accused suspects, but did not report any conviction or trial outcome in the sources reviewed. Pittsburgh police described the investigation as ongoing after the arrests.
