Woman attacked in broad daylight in downtown Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH, PA — A woman has been arrested and faces criminal charges in connection with the beating of a stranger during rush hour on a downtown Pittsburgh street Wednesday afternoon.

According to court documents, 27-year-old Shurontaya Festa was charged with aggravated assault and disturbing the peace.

Festa is accused of attacking 18-year-old Sofia Mancing of Butler from behind as she walked along Smithfield Street near Strawberry Way – a location that has seen numerous incidents requiring police intervention in recent months.

Mancing is a college student doing a summer internship at Flying Scooter Productions, whose offices are on Fifth Avenue near where the alleged attack occurred. The production company issued a statement saying Mancing suffered a concussion and a broken nose after being pushed to the ground, repeatedly punched and kicked, and dragged to the street by her hair.

“As business owners who have been located downtown since we opened seven years ago, we have watched the steady, unchecked and unprecedented rise in crime, prostitution, drug dealing and homelessness while our city officials do nothing,” Flying Scooter owners Courtney Gumpf and Jennifer Schlieper said in the statement.

“Every day we see people lying on the streets, people dealing drugs, people running over, people urinating and fights breaking out right outside our door.

“When will this end?”

Pittsburgh Public Safety Director Lee Schmidt said in a statement that such incidents could happen anywhere and urged the public to report any suspicious behavior they notice.

Festa is currently in the Allegheny County Jail and is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on June 13.