America’s best weekly Celebrating the Men of Excellence, Class of 2023! SEE SPECIAL SECTION INSIDE
Pittsburgh Courier NEW
www.newpittsburghcourier.com Vol. 114 No. 35 Two Sections
AUGUST 30-SEPTEMBER 5, 2023
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Community remembers Vic Musgrove, beloved barber 'who kids could look up to' Was a member of Courier’s ‘Men of Excellence,’ Class of 2017 by Rob Taylor Jr. Courier Staff Writer
Today, V.I.P. Styles Inc., barber shop is open for business. It’s located at 413 Smithfield Street, Downtown, complete with a can’t-miss sign that hovers above the sidewalk. Fellow barbers at V.I.P. Styles have vowed to keep the doors open, as a tribute to the man who started the barber shop nearly 20 years ago. Hundreds of people, including celebrities and political figures, kids who are still kids, and kids who are now fully grown, have sat in the barber chair placed squarely in the middle of the shop awaiting a crisp cut from Victor “Vic” Musgrove. But his heart, his clippers and his talent extended beyond the shop’s walls. Countless times you’d find Musgrove cutting hair at community events, giving the young ones a haircut for free just in time for school to start. “He was really passionate about uplifting the community, making the community a better place,” voiced Vernard Alexander
of CKV Suites, about his friend, Musgrove, who was shot while in his car on Miller Avenue in Clairton on Friday night, Aug. 25. He was transported to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. Musgrove was 51. He was in Clairton attending the first high school football game of the season for Westinghouse High School, as they played Clairton. It was a highly-anticipated contest. Musgrove was a member of the New Pittsburgh Courier’s “Men of Excellence Class of 2017.” In his biography provided to the Courier, it read that Musgrove “provides job opportunities for people who were previously incarcerated as well as people recovering from chemical dependency” at his barber shop, which opened in 2004. His bio also read that at the time, he owned a cleaning company and real estate. Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey said on social media that he woke up Saturday morning, Aug. 26, to the news that his friend of SEE MUSGROVE A4
VICTOR MUSGROVE, RIGHT, WITH PITTSBURGH MAYOR ED GAINEY. MUSGROVE WAS KILLED FOLLOWING A SHOOTING IN CLAIRTON.
How are young people getting such easy access to guns? Courier goes one-on-one with new city Police Chief Larry Scirotto by Rob Taylor Jr. Courier Staff Writer
There has never been a period in the U.S. when so many young people have had such wide access to guns. The Pittsburgh area is no exception. Pittsburgh’s first Black mayor, Ed Gainey, talks about it constantly. How are the young people getting these guns? If a person in Pennsylvania cannot legally purchase a firearm until adult age (18), how are 14, 15, 16, 17-year-olds across the region getting guns faster than they can get a bag of candy? The New Pittsburgh Courier spoke with Pittsburgh Chief of Police Larry Scirotto, a few weeks into his tenure as leader of the second-largest police force in the state (omitting county forces), behind Philadelphia. Scirotto was
sworn-in on June 7. “Young-on-young (violence) would, in our youth, fistfight, but now, youngon-young have access to weapons that we didn’t have then,” Scirotto told the Courier exclusively. “So now you’re talking about a 14- or 15-yearold that has a firearm but doesn’t have the mental maturity to regulate his emotions and use the firearm as his fist. So the damage is done just by having access to the weapon.” Scirotto, who’s had decades of experience on the streets as a Pittsburgh officer, said it’s the “straw purchases” that is the primary way young people get access to guns. Straw purchases are when a person who is legally able to purchase guns soon sells those guns to people in primarily inner-city neighSEE SCIROTTO A5
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PITTSBURGH POLICE CHIEF LARRY SCIROTTO, shown here at Bethel AME Church in the Hill District, Aug. 21. It was the first of five public meetings with the Chief, hosted by the Black Political Empowerment Project. The next meeting will be held in early September. (Photo by J.L. Martello)