'Rain of gunshots': Trial begins in slaying of Pittsburgh woman, daughter, 4

A trial began Wednesday for two men charged with killing an East Hills woman and her 4-year-old daughter outside a Pittsburgh convenience store in what a prosecutor called a “rain of gunshots.”

Tarrell Jennings, 21, of Wilmerding and Marquise St. Julien-Givner, 23, of Wilkinsburg face homicide and other charges in the Dec. 1, 2022, slaying of Temani Lewis, 21, and her daughter, Kaari Thompson.

Jennings’ fate will be decided by a jury, but St. Julien-Givner has opted for a non-jury trial.

That means Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Bruce Beemer, who is presiding over the joint proceeding, will render a verdict for one defendant while a jury will handle the other.

Attorney Owen Seman, who represents St. Julien-Givner, will be able to cross-examine witnesses during the trial, Beemer told jurors.

During an 11-minute opening statement, Allegheny County Assistant District Attorney Diana Page told jurors a forensic pathologist’s testimony and accounts from police officers at the crime scene in the city’s Lincoln-Lemington neighborhood will prove the defendants are guilty.

The victim’s boyfriend, who was wounded, is set to testify, prosecutors said.

“You’re going to hear his first-hand account of what happened that night,” Page said.

Defense attorney Kelvin Morris, who represents Jennings, countered Page with three recommendations to jurors: keep an open mind, “pay attention to what’s missing” and hold prosecutors accountable for the burden of proving his client’s alleged guilt.

Morris did not contest that Lewis and her daughter were killed in 2022.

“We’re not disputing that — but Mr. Jennings has been falsely accused of this,” Morris told jurors. “Mr. Jennings did not do what they say he did.”

Morris said jurors would encounter “witnesses that are tampering with evidence” and witnesses “who are not being accountable.” He did not elaborate.

Arrested after 10 months

On the night she was shot, Lewis had picked up her boyfriend in a green Jeep, then stopped at a convenience store in the 1500 block of Lincoln Avenue, Page said Wednesday. It was “a cold and bitter day and night” in Pittsburgh.

Lewis, a “frequent customer” at the store, stopped “to grab just a few items,” the prosecutor said.

“Then not even seconds after closing the driver’s-side door, there is a rain of gunshots on the green Jeep,” Page said.

Lewis’ boyfriend grabbed Kaari and rushed her into the store for help, Page said. The Pittsburgh Lincoln Early Childhood student died at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.

Lewis, who was shot in the head, died a week later, Page said.

The district attorney’s office maintains Jennings and St. Julien-Givner were passengers in a ride-share that drove up behind the green Jeep before the shooting.

Pittsburgh police arrested the two men more than 10 months later. They were charged with two counts of homicide and one count each of attempted homicide, aggravated assault and conspiracy to commit homicide.

St. Julien-Givner also faces a firearms charge.

Mother faced trial

Lewis had been scheduled to stand trial soon after the shooting in connection with a separate incident, court records show.

Lewis’ non-jury trial was set to start Jan. 23, 2023 in the shooting of two people in Homewood that summer She was charged with attempted homicide, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and firearms violations.

Response to the shooting of Lewis and her daughter was swift. Memorials were left at the scene. Family and friends scheduled a balloon release in Kaari’s memory.

“There is no reason a 4-year-old should have been murdered,” said Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey, who spoke to a gaggle of reporters in his City-County Building office shortly after the shooting. “There’s no reason a 4-year-old should be gunned down in our city, period.”

Beemer said he expects the trial to continue at least through Friday.