Pair plead guilty in 2003 Pittsburgh shooting turned homicide 15 years later

One man will remain on parole and another in prison for a 2003 shooting in Downtown Pittsburgh that turned into a homicide last year when the man they robbed and shot died of complications from the 15-year-old bullet wound.

Marty Allen Armstrong Jr., 35, and Lamont Fulton, 34, both pleaded guilty Tuesday to third-degree murder in connection with the death of Michael Lahoff. Lahoff was shot in 2003. He died in 2018.

Armstrong has remained in prison since 2005, when he was sentenced to 25 to 50 years. His guilty plea tacked on 2 to 10 years.

Fulton was paroled in 2011, about halfway through his 15- to 30-year sentence. He received no further prison time, Judge Jeffrey Manning ruled, and he will remain on parole.

Armstrong and Fulton were 18 and 17, respectively, when they spotted Lahoff on a Downtown street, pulling a piece of luggage. According to the original criminal complaints against them, Armstrong said they followed Lahoff into a Smithfield Street parking garage because they “thought (he) had a lot of money.”

Lahoff, who was 50 at the time, was sitting on the bumper of his Ford Escort flipping through a copy machine manual when the two teens approached him. A Boy Scout leader and copy machine repairman, Lahoff was Downtown that day for a repair job.

Armstrong pointed the gun at Lahoff and demanded money. Lahoff handed over his wallet, and Armstrong shot him. The first shot shattered his collarbone, and the second left him paralyzed from the shoulders down.

The teens made off with $15, which they used to buy marijuana.

Lahoff was 50 when he was shot, and he lived the next 15 years of his life at Lifecare Hospital. He died Nov. 27, 2018, of complications from the paralysis caused by the gunshot wound, according to the medical examiner’s office. His death was ruled a homicide.

Lahoff testified during the 2005 trial of his assailants, saying someone put a gun to his head and said, “I want it all.” He handed over his wallet.

Armstrong said when he was arrested that the gun went off by mistake.