In the early hours of a Monday morning in August 2018, a dispute inside a Duquesne bar escalated to a fatal encounter for Donnell Demery. The 54-year-old male was at the 1313 Bar on Kennedy Avenue when an argument broke out with another patron. Shortly after midnight on August 13th, the verbal altercation turned violent when the other man drew a gun and shot Demery multiple times. Police responded to the scene at 12:03 a.m. to find Demery heavily bleeding. An officer attempted to save his life by applying a tourniquet, but Demery succumbed to his injuries about an hour later at UPMC McKeesport. A second individual was also injured during the shooting but fled the scene before law enforcement arrived.
The investigation into Demery's death quickly focused on one suspect, Carl Jones, then 27 years old. Allegheny County police identified Jones as the man who argued with and subsequently shot Demery. An arrest warrant was issued for Jones, charging him with homicide and weapons violations. He was known to frequent the McKeesport and Hill District areas. On August 28, 2018, authorities located and arrested Jones in the 200 block of Dinwiddie Street in the Hill District. He attempted to hide inside a residence but surrendered to deputies who entered the building with a K-9 unit.
The case against Carl Jones proceeded to a bench trial in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court. In October 2019, a judge found Jones, then 28, guilty of third-degree murder and two firearms counts in the shooting death of Donnell Demery. He was sentenced in January of the following year. The 1313 Bar, which was described as a known trouble spot with a history of disturbances, including shootings and assaults, is now closed. The establishment had its liquor license renewal denied by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board prior to the fatal shooting. In a strange turn of events, a suspicious fire that caused minimal damage was reported outside the bar just hours after Demery was killed.
