An Arnold man who was shot and killed at a New Kensington housing complex in January died because of a robbery gone bad, according to a criminal complaint.

Authorities said Letresse Tareke Williams, 30, of New Kensington, planned to rob Anthone Williams, 31, in a section of the East Ken Manor housing complex that has been closed since the 1990s.

John W. Clark, a detective with the Westmoreland County District Attorney’s Office, said he doesn’t believe the two men are related.

Letresse Williams has been charged with homicide, robbery, criminal conspiracy to commit homicide and robbery and a firearms violation in connection with the Jan. 15 shooting. He was being held in Westmoreland County Prison on unrelated charges when he was arrested on the new charges on Monday, authorities said.

A preliminary hearing on the new charges is set for Jan. 13 before District Judge Frank J. Pallone Jr. in New Kensington.

Police said the shooting happened shortly before 5:30 p.m. in the 200 block of Dent Drive.

New Kensington police said they were called to the housing complex for a report of shots fired. When officers arrived, they found Anthone Williams slumped over the wheel inside his vehicle. He had been shot multiple times and was dead at the scene.

Detectives with the Westmoreland County District Attorney’s Office and New Kensington Police Department were called to investigate. A search of the scene turned up the victim’s cellphone, another cellphone, and spent casings from two types of guns.

Police also searched the area with a police dog and found two handguns in a wooded area just off Dent Drive, according to the complaint.

Various witnesses told police they saw two men walking up to and getting into the victim’s vehicle before the shooting, and shots being fired before the men got out of the vehicle.

The second man was not identified. Clark said the investigation is ongoing.

Other witnesses told police they had spoken with Letresse Williams and another person prior to the shooting about setting up Anthone Williams to be robbed, the complaint said.

Investigators said DNA found on the cellphone that didn’t belong to the victim matched Letresse Williams. The cellphone also contained a picture of one of the guns found in the wooded area off Dent Drive, police said.

Text message and call information from both cellphones showed they had been communicating prior to the shooting, the complaint said.

Investigators spoke with the person who owned the cellphone Letresse Williams had been using.

The person told police that, following the shooting, Letresse Williams contacted them and asked them to report the cellphone lost or stolen, according to the complaint.

The person also said that, prior to the shooting, Letresse Williams said he was going to “make a move.” After the shooting, Letresse Williams said the “move went bad.”

Letresse Williams has been convicted of several crimes, and is not allowed to have a gun because he is a convicted felon.

Late last year, Letresse Williams was charged with four counts of attempted homicide in connection with a shooting that occurred at New Kensington’s Valley Royal Court on Dec. 1, 2019.

In that case, New Kensington police said Letresse Williams fired shots at four people inside and standing near a parked car. The car was hit by four bullets and a van parked next to it was hit twice, according to an arrest report filed in the case.

Police said analysis of the guns and casings found at the shooting scene determined the guns were used to shoot and kill Anthone Williams, according to the complaint.

Police said one of the guns also matched another shooting in New Kensington in which Letresse Williams was identified as the shooter and arrested for. The complaint did not say which shooting that was.

The shooting remains under investigation. Anyone with information regarding the shooting is asked to call New Kensington police at 724-339-7534.

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