A Clairton man will spend 15 to 40 years for killing his girlfriend in Homewood last year.

Sanders Barber, 45, pleaded guilty Thursday to third-degree murder and a firearms charge before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge David R. Cashman.

Pittsburgh police were called to a home on Monticello Street in Homewood in the early morning hours of March 30, 2020, where they found a resident there, Shade-a Johnson, dead from a gunshot wound.

Witnesses said Johnson’s boyfriend, known as “Von,” had been playing with a small, black and yellow gun at her home all night, including firing it earlier in the evening, which triggered the city’s ShotSpotter system, according to a criminal complaint.

Von was later identified as Sanders Davon Barber.

He was arrested on April 17, 2020, by U.S. marshals in New Jersey.

As part of the plea hearing, Johnson’s daughter and mother submitted victim impact statements.

Da’Sha’Nae Loving said her mom was the “best mother in the world.

“We loved everything about our mother, she would take us on an outing almost every weekend,” she wrote. “We had movie night, cooking class, arts and craft, story time, shopping trips, and we were always allowed to bring our friends.”

Loving wrote that she and her brothers loved their mom’s laugh and how she danced.

Her death, Loving said, “seems like the end of the world.”

“I pray everyday for God to help me forgive, but I still cannot forgive him for taking our mommy from us.”

Johnson’s mom, Donnika Green, told the court that her daughter volunteered at the Wilkinsburg Family Support Center, where she had been getting ready to teach an adult arts and craft class.

Johnson also loved having family functions.

“My daughter was a joy to be around,” Green said. “She was a dedicated mother to her children and the neighborhood children.”

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