On a cold January night in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the life of 29-year-old Janese Jackson Talton was tragically cut short. In the early morning hours of January 22, 2016, Talton, a Black mother of three, was at Cliff's Bar & Grill in the Homewood neighborhood. While at the bar, she was approached by 41-year-old Charles McKinney. He made advances towards her, which she rejected.
Witnesses reported that after Talton left the bar, McKinney followed her outside.
He approached her again, and after she once more rebuffed his advances, he shot her in the chest and fled the scene. A bar employee who witnessed the shooting saw a flash from McKinney's hip area, and Talton fell to the ground. Police were called to the scene around 2 a.m. and found her lying in the street; she was pronounced dead from a gunshot wound to the chest.
Shortly after the shooting, police initiated a traffic stop on a speeding vehicle driven by McKinney. As officers approached, they received a dispatch about the shooting, and McKinney sped off, leading police on a high-speed chase through several neighborhoods. The pursuit ended when McKinney crashed his car in Wilkinsburg after police had fired at his vehicle. He was taken into custody and hospitalized for a graze wound to his head.
Charles McKinney was charged with homicide, aggravated assault, fleeing police, and several other offenses. A security guard at the bar testified that he heard McKinney say he would 'murk' Talton—street slang for murder—after she rejected him. In February 2017, McKinney pleaded guilty to third-degree murder, gun violations, fleeing and eluding police, reckless endangerment, and resisting arrest. He was sentenced to 20 to 40 years in prison. At his sentencing, McKinney apologized and called the incident a 'tragic accident,' a claim that was strongly contested by Talton's family, including her brother, then-state Rep. Ed Gainey.
