'No child should ever go to school and never come home': Teen sentenced in Oliver Citywide killing

A Crafton Heights teen will serve 20 to 40 years in state prison for killing a fellow student outside Oliver Citywide Academy two years ago.

Eugene Watson, 19, was sentenced on Thursday in the shooting death of Marquis Campbell, 15, following an emotional hearing before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Edward J. Borkowski.

“No child should ever go to school and never come home,” the victim’s mother, Terra Campbell, told the judge.

Marquis was shot and killed around 1:45 p.m. on Jan. 19, 2022, as he sat in a school van waiting to go home. He had attended the Marshall-Shadeland school, a special education center for students in grades 3 through 12, since he was in third grade.

Marquis was beloved by his teachers. Terra Campbell described her son as a good kid. She told the court she placed him at that school to keep him away from violence.

According to police, Marquis and the van driver were sitting in the vehicle that afternoon when Eugene Watson and his brother, Brandon Watson, approached.

Eugene Watson spoke with the driver before firing two shots in the van’s partially open window, police said. Marquis was struck in the chest and died a short time later.

The suspects fled, leaving fresh footprints in the snow. Police followed those prints to Bethel Assembly of God where they found several pieces of clothing, including a black hooded jacket, sweatpants and black Ugg shoes, behind an air-conditioning unit.

A loaded revolver was found in the jacket’s right pocket.

Testing ultimately revealed Brandon Watson’s DNA was found on the clothing and on the gun, police said.

Police later found Eugene Watson’s clothes from that day, as well.

A witness told police that Marquis had been involved in three fights with the Watson brothers between September and November 2021.

The fights, according to the criminal complaint, stemmed from arguments over previous friends’ and relatives’ murders.

It took more than a year before police filed homicide charges against the brothers.

Brandon Watson’s case was heard in juvenile court. He was adjudicated delinquent on a charge of conspiracy to commit third-degree murder and is currently in a secure placement.

Now 18, the juvenile court system can keep him up until the age of 21, said his attorney, Owen Seman.

Eugene Watson pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and related counts on Oct. 11. The plea deal did not include an agreed-upon sentence. He was 17 at the time of the slaying but was tried as an adult.

George Saba, who represents Eugene Watson, said his client apologized to the victim’s family and is remorseful.

In his youth, Eugene’s parents said he was friendly and enjoyed sports and vacation Bible camp. However, as he got older, he struggled with violence in the community.

His father, Eugene Watson Sr., asked the judge for leniency so his son could make something of his life in the future.

But Terra Campbell told the court the defendant did not deserve mercy since he did not show any to her son. She described the Watson brothers as having “hunted” him down.

Although Borkowski acknowledged the defendant’s troubled childhood, which included time in and out of foster care, he sentenced Eugene Watson at the top end of the standard advisory guidelines.

The judge said that the loss of a 15-year-old necessitated a high degree of accountability.

“It’s not what we were hoping for, given not just the mitigating factors, but the rehabilitative capacity I think Eugene possesses,” Saba said.