Families of killer, victim describe anguish over ambush murder outside North Side bar

Akil Tennyson intimately understands the pain he caused when he murdered a father of three last year on the North Side. When he was 2, Tennyson’s own father was fatally shot.

“This is the worst thing I could have done as I understand the pain of not having a father first-hand,” Tennyson said Wednesday before being sentenced to prison. “And that pain will never go away.”

“I am so truly sorry.”

Tennyson, 32, of Swissvale was sentenced in Allegheny County Common Pleas court to 12½-25 years in state prison after pleading guilty in April to third-degree murder and gun charges.

Tennyson shot and killed Warren Thompson on Feb. 24, 2024, outside of 703 Social Club in Pittsburgh’s Marshall-Shadeland neighborhood.

The two men, whose families had been close for decades, were inside the club that night when they got into an argument and then a fight stemming from a dispute a month earlier.

They were kicked out of the bar. Authorities said Tennyson went outside first, where he waited for Thompson and then shot him six times — five times in the legs and once in the back.

A security guard for the club returned fire at Tennyson, striking him in the chest.

Thompson died a short time later.

After spending several days in the hospital, Tennyson was charged with criminal homicide.

According to Assistant District Attorney Heather Schultz, the prosecution offered the plea to third-degree murder because Tennyson was intoxicated that night.

His blood alcohol content was 0.10 %; Thompson’s was 0.315%.

The intoxication, Schultz said, does not negate Tennyson’s culpability.

“He ambushed the victim,” she said. “The actions taken by the defendant that night were indefensible.”

Schultz asked for the maximum sentence of 20 to 40 years, arguing that Tennyson already got a break by the prosecution offering him a plea to third-degree murder.

Had he been convicted of first-degree murder, Tennyson would have been required to serve a mandatory prison term of life without parole.

But defense attorney Lee Rothman argued that his client’s intoxication reduced the crime to third-degree murder.

That, Rothman told the court, is not a break. It’s the law.

He asked the court to impose a standard-range sentence — eight years in prison.

‘Inconsiderate monster’

Judge Thomas E. Flaherty heard from several members of each family, who grew up together in the Hill District and were so close that they once shared holidays and birthdays together.

Roslyn Thompson, the victim’s mother, said the day her son died was the darkest of her life.

“I will never be the same,” she said. “If I begin to cry, the way I feel in my heart, I’ll never be able to stop. So I have to cry little by little to keep from falling.”

Thompson said that in the last 10 years, her son had begun to find his way. They shared long, meaningful talks, and she saw him grow into a devoted father.

“For that, I am so grateful.”

Warren Thompson’s fiance, Ashley McBryde, described in a letter to the court the life the couple had built over the last 10 years.

“Now, my children must learn how to cope with not having their daddy around,” she wrote.

McBryde described Thompson having tea parties with his daughters, painting their fingernails and doing makeup. His oldest son, she said, plays football and is a running back like his dad “because he wants to be just like him.”

“When I say he was a super man, he made sure our world went around,” she said. “He was the root to our garden.”

McBryde asked the judge to give Tennyson the maximum sentence, calling him an “inconsiderate monster.”

‘Devastated’ families

Tennyson’s mother and grandmother spoke on his behalf — each of them beginning with an apology to Warren Thompson’s family.

“My heart is grieved and deeply saddened,” said Patricia Council, Tennyson’s grandmother. “This tragedy should have never happened.

“Our families are devastated that Warren was taken from his family.”

She described her grandson as having a strong work ethic — he created his own cleaning company — and a caretaker for their family.

Since Tennyson’s incarceration, Council said she visits him often.

“The emotion and remorse sometimes is overwhelming him,” she said. “His heart is broken because he knows he has let his family down and his community down.”

But, Council continued, Tennyson wants to redeem himself.

“He must live now to be a better man and a better human being,” she said. “He wants a chance to prove himself worthy.”

Other friends and loved ones told the court that Tennyson was a youth football coach and active in the Hill District Youth Sports league.

Four of his players, one said, went on to play in college.

“He taught me the essence of community service,” said his cousin, Lord James.

Daily prayers

Tennyson spoke for seven minutes, his hands manacled in front of him as he tried to flip each page of notebook paper on which he’d written his statement.

He, too, began by apologizing to the Thompson family.

“I did not intend for this to happen,” he said. “I pray for Warren and all you guys every day. I pray you, one day, will forgive me.”

Tennyson said he couldn’t explain what happened that night — other than alcohol and fear playing a role in his actions.

“This is not me,” he said. “I am caring and loving.”

Now, though, he continued, “I am embarrassed and ashamed, hurt and devastated by this and where I am in life today.”

He urged the Thompson family to not allow their feelings toward him to affect their relationship with his family.

“I will be better for me, for Warren and my family.”

The judge told the families that the sentence he imposed on Tennyson was intended to balance what he heard from both sides.

Rothman, Tennyson’s lawyer, told the court his client acted foolishly.

“The collateral damage is enormous,” Rothman said. “That night he failed, but that night should not define him.”