Crawford, Steven: 1976
Steven Crawford was just 15 years old when he was shot and killed by a 14 year old youth while visiting in his Altoona home. On June 6, 1976, the young Loysburg man was shot in the chest with a .44 magnum at the killer’s home; three other youths were also at the scene. Hughes was playing with the pistol at his home, pointed it at Mr. Crawford, and pulled the trigger. The bullet pass through Steven and struck a living room wall; it ricocheted and landed on a couch.
After being shot, Steven ran through the Fifth Avenue Alley and climbed a flight of stairs to his mother’s apartment at 2300 Sixth Avenue. The young man was taken by AMED to Mercy Hospital in Altoona, where he died in the ICU at 8:28 p.m. The coroner, Charles Burkey, said the victim had died of multiple internal injuries and massive hemorrhage of the chest. District Attorney Thomas G. Peoples ordered an autopsy.
The young killer was incarcerated in the Blair County Jail after being charged with criminal homicide, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, and violation of the state firearms code. A jury of five men and seven women heard the evidence.
Steven Crawford was born on April 13, 1961, in Roaring Spring, the son of Charles J. and N. Marie (Whitfield) Crawford. He was a member of the Holsinger Church of the Brethren in Woodbury, and a sophomore at North Bedford County High School. He was buried in Woodbury, Pennsylvania.
