Charges dropped against retired Pittsburgh officer accused of shooting grandson

Megan Guza, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Apr 11, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

PITTSBURGH — Prosecutors dropped attempted homicide charges against a retired Pittsburgh police officer who had been accused of shooting her grandson during an argument earlier this year.

Virginia Beck, 64, had also been facing charges of aggravated assault, child endangerment and reckless endangerment in connection with a Feb. 11 incident at her Stanton Heights home.

The district attorney's office withdrew all charges against Beck at a preliminary hearing Wednesday afternoon.

First Assistant District Attorney Rebecca Spangler said Beck's grandson was uncooperative in the case and refused to testify. Thus, Spangler said, "we were unable to meet our burden of proof and were unable to proceed.

"As in other cases with these circumstances, the charges were withdrawn," she said.

Police became involved in the incident after they said a woman later identified as Beck dropped her teenage grandson off at Children's Hospital around 1:30 a.m. the morning of the incident.

The boy told officers that he had been arguing with his grandmother and punched a hole in his bedroom wall, according to the complaint. He said that as the argument went on, he picked up his PlayStation console with the intention of smashing it onto the ground. As he did so, Beck pulled a silver revolver from her waistband and allegedly fired one round, which hit the boy in the leg.

Beck called 911, according to the complaint, but when medics didn't respond in a timely manner, she took the teenager to the hospital herself. Authorities noted that 911 dispatchers received a call requesting medics at Hawthorne Court around 12:30 a.m. but the caller refused to answer questions.

_____