Domanek Cabbagestalk, a 25-year-old Black male from Brookline in Pittsburgh, was fatally wounded during an August 31, 2016, shooting in the city's Crafton Heights neighborhood. Pittsburgh police were called that evening to the 1400 block of Steuben Street, where they found him bleeding on the front porch of a home. He had been shot in the chest or abdomen area and in the leg, and investigators believed he had been wounded during an altercation near Woodlow Street and Cherry Court before making his way to Steuben Street. He was taken to Allegheny General Hospital, where he remained for days before being pronounced dead just before 8 p.m. on September 9, 2016. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office ruled his death a homicide caused by gunshot wounds.
The investigation later centered on a dispute that reportedly began outside a nearby apartment building. According to accounts of the criminal complaint, a witness told police that Cabbagestalk had been arguing with Dymond Locke, who lived in the building. As the confrontation escalated, Locke allegedly went inside and sent out Julius Stackhouse, the father of her child. The witness said Stackhouse came out with a black handgun, and investigators said surveillance video from the area supported parts of the witness's account. A blood trail from where Cabbagestalk was found led police to a gun discarded in a garbage can.
Police eventually issued warrants for both Julius Stackhouse and Dymond Locke in connection with the killing. Stackhouse, then 33, and Locke, then 20, were both described as being from Crafton Heights, and police warned at the time that they should be considered armed and dangerous. Investigators said Stackhouse might have gone to the Cleveland area, while Locke was believed to still be in Pittsburgh. Locke turned herself in at the Municipal Courts Building in downtown Pittsburgh in January 2017 and was held in the Allegheny County Jail, but the charges against her were later withdrawn at a preliminary hearing in May 2017.
Stackhouse remained wanted for months before Pittsburgh police arrested him in June 2017. He had faced homicide, conspiracy, and firearms-related charges in connection with Cabbagestalk's death. The case against him moved forward, and surveillance video later shown in court proceedings reportedly captured the moments leading up to the shooting, with several people, including children, visible nearby. Police said Stackhouse was the man seen opening fire.
In August 2018, Stackhouse, then 35, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and a firearms violation. As part of the plea, Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Anthony Mariani sentenced him to 7 to 15 years in prison. The plea resolved the criminal case against the man prosecutors held responsible for the shooting, while the case against Locke had already ended when her charges were withdrawn.
