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wow, amazing news! i wonder how they found him.

I know! I wanna know more!

Ironically I saw a guy standing outside of my office building yesterday that looked a lot like that police sketch, and I have been thinking since the moment I saw the sketch that I know of a guy who looks just like that...

I am not one to go calling the cops just because I see a guy who kinda looks like a drawing, and nothing else to go on — but the fact I thought of that yesterday after seeing the guy and then seeing this article today makes me wonder!

Ironic things happen to me every single day, so I hope they release a name/photo of the suspect.

They found him because he was already in jail: http://www.pghcitypaper.com/Blogh/archives/2012/10/25/arrest-made-in-south-side-cyclist-attack

My guess is the guy bragged while locked up and a prison snitch is now eating an extra serving of ramen noodles.

there is a pic on wpxi site

http://www.wpxi.com/news/news/local/police-man-accused-slashing-bicyclists-throat-sout/nSndL/

Amazing. I had more hopes they would catch this guy than the guy who killed James Price, but this is really great -- two killers or attempted killers caught in a few weeks. I just sent a thankyou to the police -- if you want to thank them yourself the webform is at http://pittsburghpa.gov/police/contacts.htm.

Thank goodness! Great job Pittsburgh Police.

Great job indeed by the police. Not to diminish the officers' work, but I was surprised to read in the PG article that this guy will be charged with aggravated assault and reckless endangerment. Hopefully the PG has this wrong as it certainly sounds like a case of attempted murder to me!

Why is he NOT being charged with attempted murder?

When myself and some friends were attacked

and one was stabbed a bunch, the DA explained

that aggravated assault > attempted murder

because if you just shoot AT somebody it is

attempted murder, and AA means that you made

contact. This is what I remember anyway

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Aggravated+Assault

"Attempted murder, is when you attempted to kill someone and the person did not die.

Aggravated assault is attacking another person for the intent purpose of inflicting severe or aggravated bodily harm to that person.

I believe it all depends, on who the judge is, who is individuals involved are, motive, if it premeditated, etc."

Sometimes they charge with a lesser charge knowing it will stick in court as opposed to the maximum charge, that a good lawyer will get thrown out right away.

Here's a good explanation of the difference between aggravated assault vs attempted murder and why a DA might chose AA over AM.

http://www.houstonda.org/houston-county-law-school/why-not-charge-attempted-murder.html

I think it was the City Paper report that said that when the guy was arrested for arson, the West Homestead P.D. thought his photo and car description were close enough to those of Colin's attacker that the mentioned it to Pittsburgh P.D.

Someone was alert at the West Homestead P.D. earlier this month. To that officer, my sincere thanks. It's nicr to have this guy off the streets.

Thanks too, of course, to the Pittsburgh P.D. for following up, and actually charging this guy.

good news, what a piece of shit.

it will be interesting to see how this guy goes through the system with different cases pending. It could be quite a while. If he is convicted of both torching his parents house and the knife attack, he could be sentenced to a long stretch of state time in a very unpleasant prison, I also wonder if he is mentally ill, or if he will at least be examined by a psychiatrist. That is quite a rampage.

This news is actually a relief.

Anthony Scholl is a mentally-disturbed individual. He did not attack Colin because Colin was a biker. Scholl attacked him because Scholl, in his rage against other humans, would attack anyone. Fortunately he was found. The city is safer as a result.

As a biker I feel safer because the attacker was not just a part of that larger class of "drivers": there are fewer psychotics than drivers (well, maybe).

I will definitely keep tabs on Scholl as his cases progress. If he goes to trial-things aren't going anywhere until next summer, maybe later. If he pleads guilty, things could go faster, but not by much. His preliminary hearing on the knife attack should be within the next ten days or so, barring any delays or postponements. Either way, he should not be released in the meantime as he is definitely a threat to the community and a flight risk.

Video is up:

http://www.wpxi.com/news/news/local/police-man-accused-slashing-bicyclists-throat-sout/nSndL/

see info on chl 11 news the dick is in jail

All of things he's accused of won't keep him away forever. Best we can hope for is that he's provided appropriate care for the better. Worst case for everyone is that this guy goes into the system and learns how to cause real mayhem without being caught.

Let's be realistic. Jail is not a good place for mental health care. The guy may find his way and manage to get socialized, but that's more likely to be in spite of prison than to be because of it. The important thing is, he's off the street for now. I feel much better riding, knowing that the two jerks who killed or attempted to kill cyclists recently have both been caught. It's like, the police have our back.

Scholl is a psychopath. No remorse, no emotions. There's no treatment for that, no "getting better" anyway. Our society doesn't have a reasonable way of dealing with those. He'll go to prison for a while, where he'll get harder and more dangerous. At some point will probably act the part well enough that he will be allowed back out into society. And some other innocent person will have to be harmed or die before he can be put away again. That's the way our system is set up.

He's a broken machine, with no possibility of repair. Cold hard logic tells me society should execute him now, and save a lot of future heartache. But for some reason we can't do that.

There should be some kind of national database, equivalent to the child abuser listing, for psychopaths. People like this should not be allowed to fall through the cracks. Everybody just got a little lucky this time.

+1 Ahlir

Glad to know that this was a matter of Colin being in the wrong place at the wrong time, rather than his having been the victim of a targeted assault because he was a cyclist.

Doesn't help Colin a whole lot, I realize!

Sure hope Colin is doing well!

Scholl was also recently charged with a number of felonies for making false statement and altering the serial numbers on a firearm. These are in addition to the arson and assault charges for more recent offenses.

His mother stated that he has psychological issues when Scholl was arrested for burning the family's house—he allegedly believed that his step-father wanted to murder him and feed him to a pet crocodile. I have no doubt that he is a psychopath, but there are other maladies at work here as well.

That being said, I'm glad he's off the street. I hope he does get treatment, but I'm skeptical as to whether his conditions are treatable.

To be fair, his step-father really does have an alligator. So... well, it's a more realistic story than the guy who held up an office in Gateway center a few weeks ago because a crow told him to. I don't doubt that crows would screw around with people if they could, but they can't.

I'm not willing to diagnose what's going on with Scholl based on a few news stories and a brief video. I'm glad he's off the street, that's all. Some people do get better in jail; let's hope Scholl, at least, doesn't hurt anyone again.

I am actually very relieved to know that there really was an allligator. The story was so much weirder when I was thinking that the alligator in the basement was imaginary. (Yes, the thought had crossed my mind.)

Keep in mind that he can still be convicted and suffer from mental illness. Remember the Baumhammers and Taylor cases in Allegheny County? No dispute that both were mentally ill at the time they committed horrible crimes. They both were put in hospitals and given medication until they were competent to go to trial. Both were given the death penalty. In Baumhammers, three different psychiatrists examined him for the state and all found him psychotic and unstable. Taylor was diagnosed with schizophrenia and other mental illnesses. Both were put in Mayview and given medication until they were declared competent. Yet, they still went to trial, were convicted and are on death row.

I am not saying this is right or wrong-it is what happened. Scholl could be convicted even if he has serious issues. Pretty wild.

The alligator, living in West Homestead ramshackle place, is 10 feet long.

That says something about Mr Scholl's background environment.

The fact is, if someone who, like Scholl's mother, lives in a shack with a 10 foot crocodilian says you have "mental issues," then probably either they are delusional themselves or they are seriously understating it. Like being called a pothead by a Rasta.

hey now, my best friend had a pet alligator for years (he got sick and died this summer). you sure do like to make a lot of assumptions about people.

Yeah, it's like being able to go through life assuming that graphic artists are all weird. At least they're better than attorneys and used car salesman, who are indistingushable from each other even after you clean the sleaze off them.

cburch you sure do like to make a lot of assumptions about people.

No assumptions. Just a probability.

Lets give him a few pills,give him another chance let him out and let him do it again,then we can say he was a Psychopath more than once.No i bet when he did the shit deal on that poor bike rider he knew just what we was doing and thats why he ran,,,,i hate this bull shit,,,,if you cant do the time dont do the crime,,another thing if he thought the crocodile was going to kill him why dident he stab the crock,,,,sounds like a bunch of crock crap

@cburch

I think there's something to be said of the mentality of people who keep wild animals confined, and perhaps even more so for large ones

Dude. We get it. Go pee in someone else's Cheerios.

Colin, I think you get it least of all

Let's not jump to conclusions on things we know nothing about, m'kay?

Just as an example, I used to care for a large Burmese python, who I adopted because the current owner was unable/unwilling to continue to take care of it. (When we had our first child, I in turn passed him on to a reptile refuge in Monroeville.) Personally, I felt that was a better choice than, say, releasing him in Frick or re-enacting the dinner menu from Temple of Doom.

Looking down on those who keep animals, without any knowledge or understanding of why they do so, seems a bit presumptuous. And not even remotely pertinent.

Sonny Crockett was a well respected Metro-Dade Police detective. He had a 10ft alligator named Elvis. It was his beloved pet and watch dog and no one ever accused him of having metal issues.

No I get it pierce. I just don't agree with you. I know it's hard to grasp and all while you are so busy being self righteous.

I hope I wasn't this annoying when I was a kid.

Well, keeping 12ft alligators in West Homestead does seem a bit peculiar...

Then again maybe they maintain a fully equipped terrarium (with pool?) in some former locomotive factory and are a part of an international registry for alligator genetic material, participating in cutting-edge zoological research. Maybe Tony should have finished high school (scholl?) and joined the family business instead of getting all paranoid and stuff.

We just don't know.

But anyway, let me take this opportunity to relate an anecdote that, perhaps, @cburch and @pierce might reflect upon:

Back in grad school, a fellow student maintained an impressive collection of tropical fish. One day I asked him why he was so fascinated by fish. As pets, I remarked, they seemed pretty boring. His reply: "Well, you shouldn't think of them as pets. Think of them as plants. In which case they're really quite fascinating".

OT, but who here has been to the Bayernhof museum across the river from the Zoo? (besides me?)

For the record, if someone released a large Burmese python in Frick, and I happened to encounter it, say, going down Iron Grate...that would really harsh my mellow.

@pseudacris My wife and I. I'd like to take my son when he's a bit older. That's a long tour.

I guess it came to mind as this thread turned to "offbeat people and their hobbies" + bodies of water indoors.

@JZ, duuuuude, lolz!

"I think there's something to be said of the mentality of people who keep wild animals confined"

These are not wild animals, they are pets. Born and raised in captivity, not trapped out in the woods. Little different from dogs and cats excepting that you have to care for them even more carefully than pet mammals because of dietary and climate concerns from their being cold blooded.

@Kordite

The difference is they're not domesticated over thousands of years and not accustomed to being trapped in small spaces for extended periods of time. They also, theoretically, could have been able to care for themselves in the wild, unlike cats and dogs, where we bred out their ability to do so

@Colin

It would be easier for me to agree with you not agreeing as opposed to not understanding if you ever said anything even remotely relevant to the points I've brought up over the years

What Pierce said.

@cburch Go pee in someone else's Cheerios.

Wins the "advice-the-giver-could follow-himself" award, for sure!

I think my major exception is that "there is something to be said about the mentality" of people who keep these pets. What mentality would that be, exactly? Would it be the same mentality of the person I worked with who kept a 6 foot caiman in his bedroom, having built a platform over the tank for his own bed to allow the crocadillian more space, while also working at the Science Center taking care of their large snakes? Would it be the mentality of my daughter who, while working at several pet stores and at Pitt taking care of their animals , also keeps a sizable bearded dragon? Or maybe it's the mentality of the former owners of the 9 million dogs and cats killed every year by shelters.

You are generalizing about the sorts of people who keep "exotic" pets and then projecting that generalization onto the father of a person who has been arrested on suspicion of committing a violent crime, as if that actually means anything about any of the people actually involved.

there are those kinds of people, and there are the kinds of people who were arrested in a drug bust behind my grandmother's old house, during which the police found a large alligator in the house. they were presumably guided by some strange notion of "cool", and were not doing a damned good job keeping it happy.

it may turn out to be mistaken, but i don't think it's at all preposterous to presume the step-father of a person we generally agreed to be a psychopath is of the latter variety. as a general rule, for most residents of the metropolis, it is a Bad Idea™ to keep a 10 foot alligator in one's residence.

@Kordtie You are generalizing about the sorts of people who keep "exotic" pets and then projecting that generalization onto the father of a person who has been arrested on suspicion of committing a violent crime, as if that actually means anything about any of the people actually involved.

You are right. I went well beyond what I should have, which would be limited to "I'm curious about the alligator and the level of care that animal might be receiving..."

The fact that it frightened Scholl is pretty meaningless either way. His assessment of any situation is probably a bit off.

I don't have any information about whether the environment was appropriate for an alligator. I do not know if the environment contributed at all to Scholl's actions.

I also don't know about "responsible alligator ownership." Most important knowledge whether or not it is a possibility, I don't know.

Anyhow, Scholl's stepdad is a real person. He lives in our community. Scholl's family is not responsible for what Scholl did. I need to be aware posting here, that some of the people reading this know people that know him and I don't know him.

@ kordite These are not wild animals, they are pets

Is a 10 foot alligator not a wild animal?

A wolf-dog, the only exotic about which I can speak with any authority, is a wild animal. Doesn't matter how well-behaved or where it was born. Doesn't matter if it is "only" 1/4 wolf.

Wolf-dog = wild animal.

I'm not sure if a similar statement holds for an alligator or not.

The "pet" chimpazee that ripped the woman's hands and face off was not viewed as wild animal until the tragedy. Had that incident not occurred, and the chimp behaved itself until it died, it still would have been a wild animal, just one that wasn't recognized.

There are responsible ways to keep some wild animals. Claiming they are somehow not wild typically precludes responsible ownership.

There are lots of cute domesticated pets that violently attack people, too.

I also believe that my cats and dogs could survive on their own. My cat is quite the hunter.

Sorry guys but most cats and dogs would fine in the wild if they grown in the wild. Google for "working cats". My cats are outside ones an can catch anything from mice to birds. So what is "domesticated" animal? If you remember 300 years ago there were a lot of wild horses. And horse domestication was "just catch and show who is in charge".

And my father in law had a half wolf-dog (german shepherd and wolf) -- real nice dog I played a lot with.

i think we can all agree with the fact that he feeds his pet alligator cheetos (at the end of the video) is probably a bad idea.

now a pet cheetah, that's probably ok

So what is "domesticated" animal? If you remember 300 years ago there were a lot of wild horses. And horse domestication was "just catch and show who is in charge".

domestication is different from taming. the horses you mention weren't wild, but feral. they had been bred to be domesticated, but either escaped or were released, and then lived in the "wild". but they were still the product of probably millennia-long human-driven breeding processes.

It's interesting to note that all large (say, larger than a rat) animals that have been domesticated (with the sole exception of the water buffalo) were domesticated thousands of years ago, by our distant ancestors. And this is not for want of trying. People have seriously tried to domesticate animals like zebras and gazelles, for example, without success. There was something about the dozen or so large animals that made them fit us, long before we started breeding them.

@Mikhail And horse domestication was "just catch and show who is in charge".

Wild horses in the US were all feral domesticated horses. I suspect real wild horse would be different.

Most of the time with a wolf-dog, you won't have any trouble. Doesn't mean they are OK.

"There are lots of cute domesticated pets that violently attack people, too."

Are we (H. sapiens) wild, feral, or domesticated? Can we make a blanket statement about a species?

Highly recommended:

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/my-life-as-a-turkey/full-episode/7378/

i blame my cat for actually domesticating me

@erok, there's an argument for that, actually. Cats carry toxoplasmosis, a single-cell parasite which also infects rats and causes changes in rat behavior (making them not fear cats, which gets them eaten by cats, and completes the parasite's lifecycle.) There's speculation that when the parasite infects humans it results in changes in human behavior, too. I think it's probably the cause of cat-keeping, which is otherwise inexplicable (BTW, I'm infected, too.)

it apparently also makes you more likely to do dangerous things...like maybe ride a bicycle in traffic perchance?

however, i don't know how you can say that the cause of cat-keeping is inexplicable. they're so darn cute and cuddly. maybe that's the toxo speaking.

i'm just glad that alligators don't carry toxo (trying to bring this thread full circle)

Wow - did this thread get off topic or what? I don't know how to respond to all of this.

I believe that a lot of people bite off more than they can chew (so to speak) when attempting to make a pet out of an inappropriate critter. Like the people that anonymously dropped off a leopard in a gold plated cage with half a chicken at a place I used to volunteer at in CA. They suddenly realized they couldn't control him and he was tearing up their apartment! Duh!! Ever see the Geico commercial with the "Watch Leopard"? Some animals are just not safe to have in population centers when the so-called owners are unable or unequipped to completely control them.

If this alligator makes it out of that home, do you really want your kid encountering it on the street? There's a reason for the laws that restrict ownership of exotic pets.

That said, I doubt this group will be able to reach agreement on the idea. Maybe we can just all agree that we're happy this guy is off the streets; hope he gets some help for his problems; hope he's not let loose on the public again until or unless his mental health issues are resolved; and hope that his step-father's pet is never let loose on the public at all.

and hope that his step-father's pet is never let loose on the public at all.

too late. according to that video i posted a few back, ths already happened

Wow, I hadn't watched the video before.

I would be terrified to share a house with a free roaming alligator.

[edit] according to neighbors, the alligator was allowed to move about the house

you know, it fetches your sandals, keeps your feet warm, and eats the cheetos that you dropped on the floor. what can go wrong?

OooooKAYthen. Maybe I will just go ahead and get that skunk, like I'd been planning on.

I have to say Scholl's claims about his stepfather and the alligator are making more and more sense.

@HV domestication is a process. The one that controlled by human beings. Natural selection does the same. And it's possible to get genetic changes that benefit human being without human intervention. As soon as animal is separated from human selection pressure the process of genetic changes goes a different way. As any process it depends on time. So at some point animals could be domesticated but as soon as they get feral and start to live many generations outside of human controlled selection process it becomes wild again. Just an example -- cats live span in a wild is about 5-7 years. During 75-80 years (lifespan for human being in the US) it would be from 11 to 18 generations of cats. And they would lose almost everything whatever was selected under human pressure.

And how fast those changes could happen?

http://wps.prenhall.com/esm_freeman_evol_3/0,8018,849374-,00.html

@Mikhail: 11 to 18 generations would be enough if there was serious cross-breeding with other species (edited to add: or if there were seriously acute selection pressures), but almost all the characteristics would still be there if left to basic selection pressures. mutations just don't happen that often.

feral pigeons are a good demonstration of this. the "wild" pigeons of american cities have surely been feral for dozens, if not hundreds, of generations, and they still very closely resemble the animals that were once domesticated.

the feral mustangs that are iconic of the american west would have had no actual wild horses with which to interbreed, and thus would be essentially genetically the same as the previous tame horses that escaped or were released.

@mikhail And they would lose almost everything whatever was selected under human pressure.

My sense is that 3eveolution tends to be a bit slower than that. I was taught in school that 100 generations is considered 1 step in evolution.

http://www.amazon.com/Beak-Finch-Story-Evolution-Time/dp/067973337X -- about speed of evolution -- now people talking about micro evoluition and just hundreds of years (not thousands). Again when you bread animal you try to select a particular feature and stick to it. A lot of new cats and dogs have been selected in a matter of a few generations.

And about of mutation -- by breading animals got (usually) two different sets of chromosomes. So genetic changes is not always from just mutation that a particular animal has. It could be brought from a side breader.

@Mick, @Mikhail,

Reports of the death of Lysenko's theories are somewhat premature.

@Ahril Well, Lysenko is a dark page in USSR history. Belyaev is a good acquaintance of friend of mine in Novosibirsk. And dog like behavior and curly tail was a part of discussion on another board as well as finches in Galapagos (there is man watching finches on a separate isolated island with total population of finches around 200) and changes in beacons of finches.

@HV "feral pigeons are a good demonstration of this"

Do we know how far they changed? From what I know breeding between wild and current feral pigeons is possible. I think wolf-dog would be better example. But Dingo (wild dog) could interbreed with domesticated dogs easily -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interbreeding_of_dingoes_with_other_domestic_dogs so genetic difference is not that big to disable interbreeding.

Cats are also very interesting case. Felis silvestris -- European wildcat.

-- Felis Silvestris Caucasica -- on of subspecies of Felis Silvestris.

Felis Silvestris are endangered and placed into Red Book of Russian Federation.

There are forest wildcats in Siberia and Eastern part of Russia. Very similar to famous Siberian Cat breed. Easily breeds with domesticated cats. My mom was born in a tiny small village. They had wildcat coming for winter during real cold weather and lived in their barn with other animals. Never touched their domestic animals (chickens, ducks, gooses).

Cats are a bit different from other domesticated animals - cats on farms live there, but they really aren't owned by anyone.

Whenever I hear of people talking about how their cats would do fine in the wild, I think of Tiger Ranch

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_Ranch_Cat_Sanctuary

i don't claim to understand the minds, such as they may be, of animals but the wants and needs of tigers and domesticated cats are not even remotely similar.

edited: yeah whoops. didn't realize it was just a cat "sanctuary". i'll leave the above up for evidence that i'm a bit of a dumbass. and also because i don't really have much to say any more.

@Pierce I just know. I saw a lot of cats doing fine in wilds. In russian villages cats never was a pet. It's pretty "utilitarian" animal that should work hard to be in house. You don't feed your cat during spring/summer/fall. Cat is on its own. And female cats very often give birth outside of the house since they know that litter is going to be drawn except probably one kitten. Those kittens are raised a side very often become feral. Out of 5 kittens two would survive the first winter. After this average life span is about 7 years.

@Mick You can visit Moscow and watch dogs. They act like set of Dingos. They live on their own in pretty big packs, hunt pets (including cats) and small animals. Behavior is very sophisticated. I don't propose smaller cities since in smaller ones they is special service (and very often people) that just shoot dogs since there are many cases when dog attacks small children.

Actaully it is even more amazing :

http://englishrussia.com/2009/04/07/smartest-dogs-moscow-stray-dogs/

The dogs actually take the subway!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmtxCi7riAI

On the note of keeping predators in confined spaces for our amusement:

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-city/child-killed-in-pittsburgh-zoo-exhibit-660606/

@Pierce Kid felt 14 feet before any dog got to him.

"Pittsburgh police Major Crimes Lt. Kevin Kraus said the boy's 34-year-old mother placed the child in a standing position on a wooden railing overlooking the enclosure."

"Almost immediately after that he lost his balance, fell down off the railing into the actual pit and he was immediately attacked by 11 dogs," Lt. Kraus said.

Charges filed against man accused in Lawrenceville hit-and-run in May

http://www.wpxi.com/news/news/local/police-arrest-man-accused-lawrenceville-hit-and-ru/nSzcn/

I'm getting my hit and runs confused, wasn't there a guy who hit a cyclist, kept going, stopped to take the bike off his car and then continued on his way?

Also, weren't there eyewitnesses on the scene for this who called in an ambulance?

Yes. That's what this one is. The guy turned himself in or his mother called police 7 hours later (depending on whose story you believe) and it's taken 6 months for charges to actually be filed.

As to taking the bike off the jeep, the bike was found blocks later apparently on a sidewalk or otherwise somewhere that one would assume it didn't just fall off, implying that the driver stopped to remove it. Or it was a deer (depending on whose story you believe)

Yes, that was the incident involving Dan Y, and two other riders were with him.

Wrong thread

As the thread is "2 for 2" and this makes it 3 for 3, it's not necessarily so far off.

I meant, I posted in the wrong thread and deleted my post.

According to the Trib story, police were waiting for Dan to be well enough to testify...

Ahlir wrote:Reports of the death of Lysenko’s theories are somewhat premature.

Swalfoort wrote:Yes! A jury found Anthony Scholl Jr., 23, guilty on all counts, including attempted homicide in the 2012 attack of a bicyclist on city steps in the South Side. Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2014/03/05/Jury-to-begin-deliberations-in-South-Side-stabbing/stories/201403050179#ixzz2v7VptG8V