Testimony begins in trial of Pittsburgh man charged in 2019 fatal shooting in Arnold

A Pittsburgh man told a Westmoreland County jury on Tuesday he was less than 5 feet away when he watched a man pull out a gun and fire multiple shots into the back of a friend who had started to run away down an Arnold alley nearly three years ago.

Police claim Shawden “Black” Ross, 36, of Pittsburgh, shot and killed 27-year-old Lamont Simmons on April 5, 2019.

They say the killing came after a dispute between the two men, who hours earlier arrived together at a party at a Fourth Avenue home in Arnold.

Ross later accused Simmons of setting him up for a robbery and shot him three times in the back, according to prosecutors.

Ross’ murder trial started Tuesday before Common Pleas Court Judge Tim Krieger. Prosecutors said they intend to seek a conviction to first-degree murder.

Resaun Kennedy, 35, of McKees Rocks, testified that Ross and Simmons briefly left the party. When they returned, Ross’ demeanor changed and he confronted Simmons with a gun, Kennedy said.

He told jurors the argument continued outside the home when Ross again pulled the gun from his waistband, held it to Simmons’ head, then dragged him by the arm down the street and into an alley where the fatal shooting took place.

Kennedy testified Ross appeared to point the gun in a downward trajectory in an apparent effort to shoot Simmons in the leg.

He claimed he and Ross ran back to the party after the shooting, where Ross emptied the gun, briefly went out again, later returned and went to an upstairs bedroom where a 4-year-old girl was sleeping.

Under questioning from defense attorney Brian Aston, Kennedy admitted that at the time of the shooting he was drunk and high after smoking four marijuana cigars.

Aston’s co-counsel, Ken Noga, in his opening statement to the jury, suggested Kennedy was the man who shot and killed Simmons.

“What were his motivations that night and what are his motivations today?” Noga said of Kennedy.

Kennedy was not charged in connection with the shooting.

Jurors viewed three videos on Tuesday, one from a city surveillance camera and two from private homes that depicted all three men in the street before shooting. In one video, Ross can be seen holding a gun to Simmons’ head and another where he appears to drag him into an alley at gunpoint.

Arnold police officer Robert Haus testified investigators were able use the videos to identify Ross as a suspect in the fatal shooting.

By the next morning, they were able to locate the home where the men emerged just prior to the murder. They found Ross and Kennedy in the home and took both into custody for questioning, Haus said.

The suspected murder weapon was found on the floor of a child’s upstairs bedroom, partially concealed under a blanket, testified former Arnold police officer Colton Stebler.

In her opening statement to the jury, Assistant District Attorney Katie Ranker said one of the bullets that killed Simmons came from that gun.