Stowe driver charged with killing man who argued with passenger in McKees Rocks

Thomas Laron Smith drove his black SUV past a McKees Rocks market three times one night last December before stopping to talk to Floyd Wilson, a 51-year-old man sitting in his wheelchair nearby.

Wilson started quarrelling with someone in Smith’s vehicle, but about what was unclear, according to a criminal complaint.

Then there was gunfire.

“I’m shot!” Wilson shouted.

He had been struck multiple times in the legs and back.

An hour later, he was dead.

On Tuesday, Allegheny County Police charged Smith, 44, of Stowe, in Wilson’s Dec. 6 killing. His charges include criminal homicide, receiving stolen property and two firearms counts.

He remained in the Allegheny County Jail on Thursday with no bail.

Police used license-plate readers and surveillance video to track down Smith’s SUV, the complaint said.

When authorities executed a search warrant, they found a stolen pistol in the SUV’s glove box, according to the complaint.

Police said it tested positive for gunshot residue.

That night, Smith told police, Wilson was arguing with Smith’s passenger, who police have not named.

Smith told police he had sold drugs to Wilson before.

When Wilson “began to stand up from his wheelchair,” Smith said he started firing from his driver’s seat, according to police.

The shooting happened around 9:19 p.m. at Second Street and Broadway Avenue.

Smith told police he didn’t think Wilson was armed that night, the complaint said.

He confirmed the gun police found in his SUV — a two-toned 9mm pistol — belonged to him, according to police. The gun had been reported stolen out of Pittsburgh in 2023.

A previous guilty plea on an aggravated assault charge meant Smith could not legally carry a gun, the complaint said.

No attorney for Smith was listed Thursday in the court record. His preliminary hearing is set for April 9.

Smith also is scheduled to appear next month in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court on two different cases — one for drug charges from a 2024 arrest in McKees Rocks, and a second on drug, public drunkenness and disorderly conduct charges from a 2024 arrest in Stowe, court records show.

Smith’s rap sheet dates back more than 25 years. He was convicted of a disorderly conduct charge in O’Hara in 1999.

In 2001, a judge sentenced him to up to 23 months in jail and five years of probation after he pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and resisting arrest, court records show.

An Allegheny County Common Pleas Court judge twice sentenced Smith to additional probation after he pleaded guilty to separate gun charges in 2002 and 2003.