Thanks to one witness, it took only three days for police to arrest Donald Wilson in connection with the fatal daylight shooting of 12-year-old Kholen Germany in Wilkinsburg last month.

However, when Allegheny County police wanted to question a second 19-year-old “person of interest,” the silence began. They didn’t get their chance until Romeo Price turned himself in May 5, nearly two weeks after Germany’s shooting.

Price has not been charged in the shooting but has been jailed on an outstanding assault warrant.

Wilson would have been arraigned on aggravated assault, attempted homicide, reckless endangerment and weapons charges May 3, but a witness did not appear. He remains in custody but was not charged with Germany’s death either because the fatal bullet did not come from his gun.

Germany, remembered by neighbors, family and business owners in the area as a determined, self-reliant and helpful boy, died a few hours later after being rushed UPMC Children’s Hospital for treatment.

Whether Price fired the shot, police aren’t saying—and in a now all-too-familiar manner, neither are those who were in the store at the time. They aren’t talking, although police believe they know who the shooter is.

Originally, police thought Germany had been hit by bullets fired from across Wood Street as he stood with a crowd outside the Head 2 Toe clothing shop then ran inside for help. Even though county police Superintendent Charles Moffatt would not confirm this—police appear to be operating on the theory that Germany was shot in the shoulder by someone inside the store as he ran in, possibly being mistaken for a shooter outside.

Hopefully, Moffatt said, Price’s arrest will help move the investigation along—because, he added, the community certainly is not.

“As far as I’m concerned, right now he’s a witness,” said Moffatt. “We are getting very little feedback from the community.”

Moffatt would not comment on the directionality of the gunfire that hit Germany, nor would he say whether Price was inside the store at the time.

“We have an idea who Wilson was shooting at, but depending on who you talk to, there were anywhere from two to four people inside,” he said. “They are refusing to cooperate and there is nothing, at this time, we can do about it.

“It’s terrible, just terrible—especially with a kid like this. You’d think someone would say something.”

(Send comments to cmorrow@newpittsburghcourier.com.)