Post-Mortem: The Year That Rocked Pittsburgh

2023 will be remembered as the year that plunged Pittsburgh into darkness. What began as a vigilante mission led by NO/ONE to hold the city’s powerful and corrupt accountable through the legal system turned into a violent tragedy that left the city shattered. Instead of justice, we got bloodshed. And now, there are no answers, only cover-ups.

The most horrifying, potentially final chapter unfolded at the Carrie Blast Furnaces. In a shocking act of betrayal and violence, Aaron Kern—son of high-ranking police official Ben Kern—kidnapped and murdered three people: Officer Jack Sherman, State Senator Noah Kemp, and Harrison Gill, the latter found in the NO/ONE suit, only to be revealed as a copycat. Aaron’s motivations twisted NO/ONE’s original mission, turning it into a personal vendetta aimed at those he held responsible for his brother Michael’s death and the corruption he believed had ruined his family.

As if the killings weren’t gruesome enough, Julia Paige, a journalist with the Pittsburgh Ledger, was forced to witness the carnage. Tied to a pipe, she was powerless as Aaron executed each victim, one by one. Officer Sherman, who had trained Ben Kern, was shot and killed, representing a painful piece of Aaron’s childhood—he blamed Sherman for his father’s complicity in a long-buried cover-up. Next was Noah Kemp, a politician who had exploited the chaos of the Richard Roe killings for his own gain. Then Harrison Gill, the copycat vigilante who tried and failed to continue NO/ONE’s violent path.

But the death toll could have been higher. Alanna Paige, conservative media host and vocal advocate for Proposition 87, and Ben Kern, Aaron’s father, were next on his list. Aaron planned to kill them too, holding them responsible for perpetuating a corrupt system.

Aaron Kern’s death didn’t come with his body, though. After a desperate chase, Aaron and NO/ONE plunged into the Allegheny River, and while Harrison Gill’s body was recovered, Aaron’s has yet to be found. Despite his presumed death, the legacy of his violent actions will haunt this city for years to come.

And at the core of this entire tragedy was Proposition 87, the ugly Frankenstein’s monster born out of NO/ONE’s accountability movement. Originally, NO/ONE aimed to expose corruption and ensure the powerful couldn’t exploit the system. But Prop 87 took on a life of its own, giving people free reign to justify violence in the name of “preemptive self-defense.” It quickly escalated, with fourteen dead and counting  More than Aaron Kern and Harrison Gill’s twisted serial killings, the real horror is that the corrupt are shielded by a law gone awry. Those who should be facing consequences—powerful officials, corrupt officers, and media figures—continue to walk free.

Julia Paige, the podcast’s co-host, has officially quit both the WHO IS NO/ONE podcast and the Pittsburgh Ledger—this time, allegedly for good. After witnessing the deaths firsthand, it’s hard to blame her for wanting to distance herself from the nightmare Pittsburgh has become.

As for Harrison Gill, there’s no way he was truly NO/ONE. This whole thing smells like another cover-up, one of many we’ve seen throughout this blood-soaked year.

In a fitting end to this twisted tale, PL Media has just announced a feature-length true crime documentary titled I AM NO/ONE. Because, of course, they want to cash in on the chaos. Let’s be real—if they couldn’t get this whole year right in real time, what makes them think they can clean up the mess in a neatly packaged film?

Stay tuned, Pittsburgh. We’re in for more than a few revisions of this story—and none of them are likely to bring the real answers we’ve been waiting for.