Thanks for posting OP.

$22,000 raised by nearly 400 people in just a few hours should speak volumes as to Alex’s character and how tragic a loss this is to all that knew him. Rest in peace, Alex 🏒

Also helps that people hate that peace of shit that shot him Luke Kislak.

FUCK LUKE KISLAK!!!!

Who is he?

I saw his mugshot on TV.

This might not be the right time, but what was the reason, if any, for the shooting? Was it just some random dude riding his bike in Bloomfield?

Just read the story. What on Earth? What the hell is the motive here?

Insanely tragic. Will chip in ASAP.

This tragic murder in particular seems so shockingly evil, cruel, senseless, and random.

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My understanding is that Luke was a fuckhead (with a history of fuckery per a friend who knew him) that had a mental break and Alex was just in the wrong place.

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“Yesterday’s tragic shooting”

America: you need to be more specific

Punk community rounding up coin

Yeah, that matches every interaction with Luke that I've ever had.

History of violence just an all around edge lord piece of shit.

We’re not even gonna call this a psychotic break, dudes been this way for years.

Someone said it best, that luke created his own shit head joaquin phoenix joker personality, idolizes guns, and chaos.

Knowing the dude and how much of a shit head he is, i would be surprised if he did this to live in infamy and nothing else.

You have had interactions with him???

Yeah I thought maybe someone from that school shooting had been from Pittsburgh 😭 Jfc.

I still can’t believe it. Alex was such a great guy, had a bright future. Used to work with him and he was always nothing but kind, he deserved so much better then this…

Many people have

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What’s the 35k for- that’s way more than a funeral cost. Did he leave a child behind?

Edit- before downvotes- this is a genuine question. The gofundme has very little information and just a seemingly random money goal.

I think your question is fair. A lot of times in these fundraisers I see verbiage about the money helping to support the family in this difficult time. It could be for lost wages for a little while if he was sending some home, it could be for counseling which is not affordable for many people. I don’t think the money goal was explicitly calculated based on specific costs, but would be enough to cover other externalities of losing a loved one.

Death costs a lot. My friend recently died and aside from the cremation and funeral, his shitty landlord wanted rent from his family, there’s moving and storage for their stuff, transportation for loved ones to the funeral, etc. It’s better for them to be prepared for all of it and not have to worry at all about money.

I’d imagine whatever isn’t used will be donated in his name.

Good point about the family - if you have half extended family several states away- it’d be great to cover their costs and lodging

Yeah, in my friend’s case we actually covered the basic services with a Gofundme, but his friends and family ended up paying thousands more for stuff like that. I hope Alex’s family at least doesn’t have to think about anything in that realm, this is so horrible and tragic.

If I could somehow go back and spend my donation money on buying Alex drinks at the bar, I would have much rather done that. But now I can’t, so my donation was pretty much for anything that brings comfort to his family at this time… something to let them know that Alex mattered to me. If they could buy Alex’s life back for $35,000 I’m sure they’d do it in a heartbeat

Also, the goal was originally lower. I think once the goal is met, there’s an option to increase it. I don’t think there’s any sort of specificity in the goal amount. Just a target to shoot for

I understand you question.. It didn’t start that high, people keep contributing so the bar keeps being raised.

There is always something about that guy that I didn’t like. He started hanging around the house. I lived at a lot and I moved almost immediately.

Same here. It just sucks that the “scene” enables this kind of shithead behavior and it lead to this. Just absolutely horrible

oh ok- I thought they randomly picked the 35. Still from a few other comments, it would be nice not to have to worry about bills and stuff if you need to take off to mourn.

Yeah- after looking at some responses, even if his family doesn't need all of it, it's great for them to not have to worry about anything during this.

Alex was my cousin and the family is still in shock out of this senseless killing. He was a good kid and excelled in his studies. He graduated with honors from the university of Pittsburgh and was working on projects for the city of Pittsburgh. Alex had a tough time losing his father at early age. He was always upbeat and great to be around.His mother is devastated as is the rest of the family. Thank you all for donating in Alex’s behalf. I just hope that justice is served upon his killer.

Didn't know Alex personally, but I've know his brother for a long time. This is just unbelievable... there are no words. My condolences to the entire Yerkey family.

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Pretty much my thoughts. No amount of money would possibly be enough to make up for their loss. If they run out of things to spend it on and want to donate it to a charitable cause, that’s awesome. If they want to keep it for themselves, that’s great too. No strings attached on my contribution.

what scene?

Punks

How does the scene enable this? Not doubting you, maybe I just don’t have the facts. Was the handgun his?

Wow. Such petty people on here. $35,000 you're questioning? How about those who are complaining.. you meet Alex's fate and I'll donate to your fund. What jerks!

I grew up with him (we for sure know each other Akay) and I haven’t talked to him in about five years since I moved to Philly and got sober. Knowing him his entire life, I’m the least surprised that this happened and I’m even less surprised people have made excuses for his actions. I think the conclusion you’ve drawn is correct.

Fair question. He’s a known abusive asshole, which is now being called out publicly but really wasn’t before this happened. See Akay’s comment a little below mine, it’s 100% spot on. But basically by people playing in bands with him, booking those bands, and including him with the rest of the cool kids for various things, sent a message that how he was behaving was fine. I have no idea who he got the gun from, and I truly hope that it wasn’t given to him willingly. There are a lot of apologists in the scene for various bad behaviors and I don’t think they appreciate the consequences it can have.

Wtf he’s in bands and hangs out in popular bars—a fuckton of people have.

Aye!

I'm not a goddamn mind reader.

How could I possibly know that???

I don't hang out with bands or in bars. I could give two shits.

Wait... what bands?

Exactly, punks suppose to be different than the rest of the world. Seems like punk is just like the rest of the world. Its a party, and it lets abusers run rampant.

Are you an HC grad? Luke and I ran around in the same circles through grade school and high school. Attended the same sleepovers…sled riding in his little village. Edgelord…that is such a perfect discriptor for Luke. A try hard Edgelord at that. Burned into my memory is an incident where Luke was basically masturbating under a throw pillow on a La-Z-boy in a room filled with at least a half dozen prepubescent boys. WEIRD. Doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface. I’ve been more or less out of contact with him since HS graduation, but even then I was always in and out of the punk scene in various locales including PGH. Something about him still always made it back to me, we’ve got a lot of mutual acquaintances. Still, I never heard about all of the actual violence and abuse. Dude apparently idolized GG Allin too much. I thought a lot of what I did know and see was stage bullshit.

I don’t think he was so fucked mentally he didn’t realize the consequences of his actions. Unfortunately, I 100% believe this to be some sort of edgelord ploy to achieve infamy. I’m torn about whether or not this comment contributes to it. Either way, I AM curious to find how the gun was acquired. I can’t imagine it was sold to him by a dealer.

I’m not gonna promote his bands, especially here. However, punk stuff. “Noisecore” or wtfe. I listen to punk, I’ve described myself as a punk. But I couldn’t really listen to the stuff he put out. I was really more into stuff like Ska and Folk punk, anyway. But it really was just…noise. Or maybe I’m just a lot older than my 33 years. 😅

There IS a lot of good in punk. But no matter how small you break down society, if it can be described as a community, you’re gonna have elements that don’t actually give a damn about…anything but themselves. Or rather their own vision of themselves. It seems that’s just part of humanity, maybe. You will always have infiltrators.

I graduated from Indiana the same year he graduated HC

👍🏻 I’m sure we’re at least aware of each other then. Super small world sometimes. Late in high school, and since, my friend groups are of Indiana grads anyway. Most a year younger than us. Thane H., Ken W., Josh S., others in that circle. Another circle of guys a few years younger, from Indiana, as well.

Also, huge congrats on sobriety. Not an easy thing, ever. I celebrated six years this year.

If you knew Luke then, you probably knew me. We were really inseparable high school and post college for me - I lived with him at helter shelter and spent more time in Meghan’s regal than anyone should’ve - and once again, this whole thing doesn’t surprise me at all. There’s a reason I haven’t talked to him in years.

And congratulations to you too! Three years booze and blow free in June!

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OH…gotta add one more thing. Jimmy Shank. There’s another abusive delusional shitbag, and should anyone ever ask you what you think about him…STAY AWAY. I don’t remember him being quite like that during the helter shelter days. Or the later witch haus. Regardless. He is now.

Not sure why you got downvoted, but I also agree and could have posted at least 3 bands here. If OP wants to know bad enough, it’s a pretty lazy Google.

Thanks, but fwiw, I don’t see any downvotes in my notifications or here. Although I’m very new to Reddit still so I could be missing something. It is a very lazy google, though. Regardless, this is certainly not the thread to be making those bands more infamous than they already will be. There is a certain…sector of punk that takes this sort of nihilistic shitbag and idolizes the fuck out of them. That’s how we got here in the first place. Through some almost ritualistic idolization of people like GG Allin.

First thing I heard about when I walked into work was from someone who has played with him, been around him for years in the same circle and how big of a loser the guy is. Good thing he will probably OD soon and rot and no one will care. And I have never wished that on anyone.

Sounds spot on to me based on what I have been told. Dumbass did the worst kind of stuff to be cool.

The original goal was 20. Go fund me allows you to up the goal when the OG was reached. It reached so fast and so many were willing to give, my guess is they just upped it. Money can give his life back but it can help with anything they need to overcome the grief. I lost my father and when we got the insurance money it was just things like knowing "instead of $20 of gas I'll fill the tank" can put your mind in a better place.