UPDATE | Officials: one dead, another person in critical condition after Woodvale shooting | News

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – One man died and another person was in critical condition after a shooting early Tuesday morning in the Woodvale neighborhood of Johnstown, officials said.

Cambria County Prosecutor Greg Neugebauer said three people were struck by gunfire in what appeared to be a “targeted” shooting on Plum Street.

“This was not a random incident,” he said.

In a separate investigation Tuesday, two people were apprehended on charges of distributing drugs from a home in the 600 block of Plum Street in Woodvale. Federal authorities had been investigating suspected drug activity at that home since April, according to court documents.

Neugebauer acknowledged that the address matched where the shootings were reported.

But he said Tuesday afternoon that it was too early to speculate whether this federal drug case was linked to the fatal shooting.

“This is a separate federal matter,” he said of the drug charges.

'Ask for help'

Moments after shots were fired on Plum Street, a person at the scene began driving the wounded to a hospital, Cambria County Coroner Jeff Lees said. But they didn't get far before seeing the firefighters.

“They stopped first responders on Maple Avenue and asked for help,” Lees said.

A man in his 20s, whose name has not been released pending notification of next of kin, was pronounced dead shortly after midnight Tuesday after first responders began providing aid on Maple Avenue, Lees said.

Another person was being treated for “very serious injuries,” while a third person was recovering from relatively minor injuries, Neugebauer said.

Neugebauer declined to say whether Johnstown police had identified a person of interest in the shooting, but said a state police dog unit was called to assist.

“We have a few people we’d like to talk to,” he said.

Neugebauer said Johnstown police collected evidence on Plum Street and Maple Avenue, two blocks away.

This included the vehicle used to transport the victims from the scene, he said.

There was evidence that the vehicle and a home on Plum Street had been hit by gunfire, Neugebauer said.

A firearm and numerous shell casings were also recovered, he said.

Lees said more information about the shooting would likely be released by his office on Wednesday, after the completion of an autopsy that was still underway Tuesday evening.

Neugebauer said Johnstown police, Cambria County detectives and the Cambria County District Attorney's Office are investigating the shooting and pursuing leads with assistance from the state attorney general's office.

Anyone with information that could help investigators was asked to call Johnstown police through the Cambria County non-emergency number, 814-472-2100.

“Some (information) that seems small can actually be enough to open a case,” Neugebauer said.

Those details can add credibility to information provided by another informant or help build support for a search warrant, he said, generally speaking.

“It happened early in the morning. If anyone has heard or seen anything…we ask them to call,” Neugebauer said.

Drug arrests

In the federal drug case, Che Rose and Jessica Wilson were arrested Tuesday, according to court documents.

An FBI agent with the Southwestern Pennsylvania Safe Streets Task Force alleged in an affidavit that Rose and Wilson were involved in a conspiracy to distribute quantities of fentanyl, heroin, crack cocaine and drugs. other controlled substances in and around Johnstown.

The FBI allegedly learned that Rose and Wilson were selling large quantities of crack cocaine from their home on Plum Street.

The affidavit alleges six controlled purchases of crack, heroin or fentanyl were made from Rose and Wilson in April and May. He details two alleged controlled drug buys at the Plum Street home.

Online court documents show Rose has been convicted of drug charges at least twice – most recently in 2014 for selling crack cocaine in 2009.

He spent a decade in prison before being released last year and is currently on probation, according to court records.