Aaron J. Barrow, a 19-year-old male from McKees Rocks, was killed in the early morning hours of September 3, 2015, inside a home in Clairton, Pennsylvania. The shooting happened at about 1 a.m. at 315 Ohio Avenue, in the city’s Wilson neighborhood, after gunfire broke out during what police later described as a home invasion or robbery attempt. Neighbors reported hearing a rapid series of shots, first inside the house and then outside, with at least one nearby home struck by bullets.
When police arrived, they found a trail of blood leading upstairs. Barrow was discovered lying in blood, wearing black gloves, with a black shirt partially covering his face. He had been shot multiple times, and early reporting said he died at the scene from a gunshot wound to the chest. Investigators recovered evidence showing a violent exchange of gunfire, including multiple firearms from the property and spent shell casings.
Three men who were inside the home were arrested after the shooting, but none was initially charged with homicide. They were identified as Anthony Gardner, 20, of South Park; Oswaldo Cuero Guerrero, 27 or 28, of Houston, Texas; and Jaime Mosqueda, 39, a resident of the home. Police said the men told investigators they heard someone upstairs, turned on a hallway light, and saw a masked man at the top of the stairs. According to their accounts, the masked man fired first after being discovered, and all three men said they fired back while trying to escape. Gardner was reportedly shot and later remained in recovery from leg surgery.
The investigation also uncovered evidence of drug activity inside the home. Police reported finding five firearms, including an automatic pistol in the front yard, a pistol on the living room floor, and a rifle on the dining room floor. They also recovered about 13,000 empty stamp bags used for packaging heroin, scales, other drug-packaging paraphernalia, and $4,920 in cash. Gardner, Guerrero, and Mosqueda were charged with drug and weapons offenses connected to the investigation. Mosqueda faced counts including prohibited acts, conspiracy, persons not to possess a firearm, offensive weapons, and false identification. Guerrero and Gardner were charged with prohibited acts, conspiracy, and offensive weapons offenses.
Authorities considered whether Barrow’s death would be treated as a justifiable homicide because police believed he was one of several people who entered the home during the robbery attempt. Allegheny County police said the District Attorney’s Office would decide whether homicide charges should be filed. By December 2015, the three men had waived their drug and weapons cases to Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, and reporting at that time stated that homicide charges had not been filed. Attorneys for the defendants said they had received no indication that homicide charges were forthcoming.
Mosqueda’s situation later drew federal court attention because authorities determined through fingerprints that he was also known as Jorge Antonio Collazo, was a citizen of Colombia, and had previously been deported. A later federal court record stated that Mosqueda admitted involvement in the incident in which Barrow was killed, and that the charges against him stemmed from the Clairton shooting and the evidence recovered afterward. The publicly available reporting and court material located do not show that anyone was convicted of homicide in Barrow’s death; the case instead appears to have proceeded against the arrested men through drug, gun, immigration-related, and related criminal charges arising from the deadly encounter.
