Pittsburgh man pleads guilty to killing Oliver Citywide student

A Pittsburgh man pleaded guilty Wednesday to third-degree murder in connection with last year’s fatal shooting of an Oliver Citywide Academy student at the North Side school.

Eugene Watson, 19, of Crafton Heights, also pleaded guilty to criminal conspiracy to commit third-degree murder and two firearms charges. Watson, 17 at the time of the shooting, was charged as an adult.

The third-degree murder charge comes with up to 40 years in prison, according to state law. Judge Edward J. Borkowski scheduled sentencing for Jan. 25.

Attorney George Saba, who represents Watson, declined comment outside Borkowski’s courtroom Wednesday morning.

Pittsburgh police charged Watson and his brother, Brandon, 16 at the time of the shooting, in connection with the Jan. 19, 2022, shooting death of Marquis Campbell, 15.

Charges against Brandon Watson were sent to juvenile court and he was found delinquent of criminal conspiracy, according to the prosecution. Brandon Watson’s attorney, Owen Matthew Seman, did not return phone calls this week seeking comment.

A family member of Campbell’s quietly sat in court Wednesday and nervously tapped her foot as Watson spoke. She declined to speak with reporters.

Campbell was shot as he sat in a white van outside the school in Marshall-Shadeland, police said.

A witness told police that, between September and November 2021, Campbell was involved in three fights with the Watson brothers, resulting in three-day suspensions from school, according to a criminal complaint filed in the case.

All three teens left the unnamed school and never resolved their conflict, a witness told police.

Police responded to a reported shooting at Oliver Citywide Academy, a special education center for students in grades three through 12, around 1:45 p.m. Jan. 19, 2022, according to the criminal complaint. Officers found Campbell unresponsive on the floor of a van outside the school. He appeared to have been shot in the chest.

Campbell was rushed to Allegheny General Hospital, where he died at 3 p.m., police said.

Surveillance footage showed the Watson brothers walking up to the school van at the time of the shooting, police said. One of them talked with the driver of the vehicle before firing two shots into the van’s partially open window, striking Campbell in the chest. The driver was not injured.

Police followed fresh footprints in the snow to Bethel Assembly of God, where several articles of clothing — including a black, hooded jacket — were found behind an air-conditioning unit, police said. Police found a loaded revolver in the jacket’s right pocket.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said that charges were withdrawn against Brandon Watson.