Suspect in North Shore stabbing asked officers for ride home
Pittsburgh PA Aug 21 2018
A man who fatally stabbed another man in the neck early Sunday morning outside a North Shore bar flagged down a police officer for a ride home minutes after the killing, according to the criminal complaint filed against him.
Joden Rocco, 24, is charged with homicide in the death of 24-year-old Dulane Cameron Jr. of Monaca. Witnesses told police Rocco started the altercation, which escalated quickly into the stabbing, according to the complaint.
Police responded to North Shore Drive near Burn, a cigar lounge and bar and night club, and Tequila Cowboy about 2 a.m. for a report of a stabbing, officers wrote. Cameron was dead within minutes, and the medical examiner later ruled his cause of death “massive bleeding.”
According to the criminal complaint, surveillance video from Tequila Cowboy showed Rocco walking toward the bar’s entrance, where he is denied entry. He started walking east on North Shore Drive – back the direction he came – and bouncing on the balls of his feet “and appearing to be very aggressive,” police wrote in the complaint.
Cameron and a friend were seen walking toward Rocco when “all of a sudden, Rocco begins attacking them,” according to the complaint. Cameron and his friend backed away and kept moving, according to the complaint, and walked out of the frame.
The footage showed Rocco pull something from his pants, walk off camera, and return a few second later, police wrote. He put the object back in his pocket and took off.
Other surveillance footage showed Rocco hiding in the bushes near Stage AE shortly after the stabbing, according to the complaint. Officers recovered a pocket knife from the bushes.
Three witnesses identified Rocco as the man who stabbed Cameron, one of whom indicated Rocco reignited the confrontation after Cameron and his friend walked away, according to the complaint.
A Pittsburgh police officer working a security detail in the area told investigators he heard a disturbance and approached the scene to find Cameron and Rocco facing each other, and both appeared to strike each other. He said Cameron fell to the ground with blood spraying from his neck. Another off-duty officer chased after Rocco.
A third officer was flagged down by Rocco near Art Rooney Drive, where Rocco asked for a ride home to the North Hills, according to the complaint. The officer drove Rocco to the scene of the stabbing where he confirmed with other officers that Rocco matched the description of the suspect, down to the tattoos on his arm.
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