Tyrelle Bowyer, a 15-year-old Black male from Swissvale in the Pittsburgh area, was killed on the evening of July 16, 2018, in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania. He was a Woodland Hills School District student, and the place where he was found made the loss feel even more stark: South Dell Alley, an overgrown, narrow roadway off Penn Avenue, in a heavily wooded area where there was little traffic. A person walking a dog discovered him at about 7:20 p.m.
Police said they believed the shooting happened shortly after 7:00 p.m. He had been shot in the back of the head and was pronounced dead at the scene.
In the days after his death, people who knew Tyrelle described him as a good kid who worked hard and mattered to the teams he played on. His baseball and football coach remembered him as well-mannered and dependable, the kind of young person who looked out for others. One account described him as someone who protected his coach’s son from bullies, giving a glimpse of a teenager remembered not only for how he played, but for how he carried himself around people who trusted him.
Investigators soon focused on what happened just before Tyrelle disappeared into the alley. According to police accounts and the criminal complaint described in local reporting, surveillance video showed Tyrelle walking with two other males in the 800 block of Ardmore Boulevard at about 7:06 p.m. Roughly five minutes later, two males were seen walking back from the same direction without him. One of them was identified by police as Brandon McFarland.
On July 23, 2018, one week after the shooting, Allegheny County Police arrested Brandon McFarland, who was 17 and from Homewood, though police said he was living in Rankin’s Hawkins Village at the time. McFarland was charged as an adult in connection with Tyrelle’s death. The charges reported against him included criminal homicide, possession of a firearm by a minor, tampering with evidence, and other weapons violations. He was taken to the Allegheny County Jail while awaiting arraignment.
McFarland allegedly told detectives the shooting was accidental. According to the criminal complaint as reported, he claimed Tyrelle had pulled out a black revolver while they were walking and pointed it at the two males. McFarland said Tyrelle then handed him the gun, and McFarland pointed it back toward him. He alleged that Tyrelle reached for the gun and was turning away when it fired. After Tyrelle fell, McFarland said he ran away with the weapon. Detectives, however, noted that Tyrelle had been shot in the back of the head, and the charges reflected that police did not treat the death as merely an unexplained accident.
The publicly available reporting located on the case identifies Brandon McFarland as the arrested suspect and describes him as being charged as an adult, but it does not provide a clear later outcome such as a trial verdict, plea, conviction, acquittal, dismissal, or sentence. The available online accounts leave the case at the point where McFarland had been arrested, charged, jailed, and expected to face adult criminal proceedings for the killing of Tyrelle Bowyer.
