2 teens held for trial in Brighton Heights funeral shooting

Clothing, bullets and shell casings, jackets and shoes, gunshot residue and even underwear were all pieces of evidence cited by the prosecution on Friday as they laid out in detail the evidence Pittsburgh police gathered against two teens accused of shooting five people outside a Brighton Heights funeral in October.

Detectives say that Shawn Davis and Hezekiah Nixon are responsible for the Oct. 28 shooting outside of Destiny of Faith Church following a funeral service for another shooting victim weeks earlier.

All the charges against Davis, 19, and Nixon, 17, including attempted homicide, aggravated assault, conspiracy and cruelty to animals for a horse injured in the shooting, were bound over to Common Pleas Court following a nearly four-hourlong preliminary hearing Friday afternoon before District Judge Michele Santicola.

The hearing was held in the Allegheny County Courthouse to add an extra layer of security for the proceedings. Prosecutors called four witnesses — all officers with the Pittsburgh police — in their case.

None of the five victims who suffered gunshot wounds testified.

According to the prosecution, a total of 23 shots were fired just after noon on Oct. 28 outside the church on Brighton Road at Benton Avenue.

Detective Gabriel Lanbright testified that one victim was shot 13 times. Four other victims suffered gunshot wounds primarily to their hands and feet.

A horse that was pulling a carriage to transport the casket from the funeral to the cemetery, one detective said, was hit by shrapnel in its lower hind right leg.

Prosecutors played during the hearing a 4-minute, 28-second video that showed a compilation of clips taken from security cameras near and at the church. They show in crystal clear detail the path the suspects took as they appear to case the church.

They then returned 24 minutes later and started firing as the funeral service appeared to be concluding.

The scene is one of chaos.

The two shooters, dressed all in black, approach the church through a patch of grass on the side.

As they start to fire, about 10 people outside the building rush to scramble away.

One of the shooters approaches a man who appears to be hit, but is trying to flee. The shooter continues to chase him and fire repeatedly.

The video then cuts to the inside of the church.

Although there is no volume from the front, sanctuary camera, it is clear when those inside hear the gunfire just outside the doors.

Dozens of people begin clambering out of the pews, diving for cover and fleeing from the sanctuary.

The video then cuts back outside to the two suspects sprinting away.

The five camera angles and video they provided were key in solving the case, said Detective Daniel Soroczak. Within just a few hours of the shooting, investigators were able to use those images to capture the license plate of a black Hyundai Elantra that was seen fleeing the scene.

The vehicle was registered to a person named Shawn Davis, with an address in McKees Rocks. Detectives responded to that area around 5 p.m. that afternoon and found the car parked in an alley nearby.

They set up surveillance on it, Detective John Denis testified, and about 40 minutes later the two shooting suspects returned to the car and drove off.

Denis and detectives with him conducted a traffic stop on the McKees Rocks Bridge. Both the driver and passenger got out and started to run.

The driver was identified as Davis. The passenger was identified as Nixon.

Denis said as Nixon tried to flee, he threw a black handgun over the bridge to the river below.

It was found two days later by Pittsburgh River Rescue divers. That gun, Denis said, matched casings taken from the shooting scene.

Soroczak testified that when Nixon was arrested, he was wearing the same clothing seen on one of the suspects in the video footage from the shooting, including a black jacket with a distinctive silver button on the collar, and black Nike Air Force 1 shoes with silver buckles.

When detectives then returned to the apartment Davis and Nixon had left, Denis said, they found gloves similar to what the shooting suspects wore, as well as a black facemask.

They also found a black puffy jacket and blue-and-grey Nike Air Max shoes that police said Davis was wearing during the shooting, as well as two magazines for a .9mm handgun.

Later, when Davis was at Pittsburgh police headquarters, Soroczak said he noted that the waistband for Davis’ boxer shorts matched the distinctive waistband seen in a video of one of the shooters at the church.

In addition to the clothing and ballistic evidence, Soroczak testified that gunshot residue was found on the gloves that were recovered in the apartment, as well as on the left and right cuffs of the black jacket that police said Davis was wearing.

Gunshot residue was also found on the jacket and pants Nixon was wearing when he was arrested, the detective said.

Defense attorneys for both suspects argued that the prosecution failed to show there was enough evidence for the case to go to trial.

“There’s no identification made of Hezekiah Nixon being the shooter at the church that day,” said defense attorney Casey White.

White said that there was no evidence placing his client at the scene.

“Mr. Nixon was in a car five or six hours after the shooting,” he said.

Wendy Williams, who represented Davis, argued the same.

There are no eyewitnesses, Williams said, just her client wearing a popular brand of shoes, underwear and a common black jacket.

“There’s not one shred of physical evidence tying Mr. Davis to the church,” she said. “Everything presented here is mere suspicion.”

But Assistant District Attorney Emma Schoedel argued that the evidence was strong and plentiful.

Davis and Nixon arrived at the scene together, she said, they cased the church first, retreated and returned with guns.

“The evidence shows them shooting in tandem and fleeing in tandem,” Schoedel said. “Their criminal intent is obvious.

“Their criminal intent is to kill, and they made that decision 23 times. It’s that simple.”