Jury convicts roommate of attempted murder in Penn Township shooting

A North Versailles woman was convicted Friday of attempted murder in the shooting of her former roommate in Penn Township.

After just over an hour of deliberations, a Westmoreland County jury found Leah H. Gillis, 36, guilty of all three charges she faced: attempted murder, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment. The charges stem from the Aug. 2, 2022, shooting of Erik Allison in a home they shared.

Prosecutors said Gillis became enraged and jealous after Allison disclosed a new romantic relationship. She then fired one round from a century-old shotgun that struck him in the throat.

Gillis, who has been on house arrest since June 2023, was handcuffed and taken to Westmoreland County Prison to await a sentencing hearing in about three months. She faces a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

Assistant District Attorney Steven Reddy, in his closing argument, told jurors that Gillis intended to kill Allison, a man he said she had a romantic interest in but who had rebuffed her advances. Reddy argued the shooting occurred two days after Gillis threatened to kill Allison and just moments after he had disclosed a sexual relationship with a co-worker.

“She knew what she was doing that night. She was angry, angry that he was interested in someone else and not her. The defendant in a jealous rage grabbed a weapon and shot,” Reddy told jurors.

He said the evidence showed Gillis deliberately retrieved the gun, pulled back its hammer and waited in the dark for Allison to approach before pulling the trigger. The gun was fired through a glass door before one round struck Allison.

Reddy argued jurors should disregard the defense’s attempts to discredit Allison’s testimony that he and Gillis were not romantically involved. Allison, 35, now of Delmont, told jurors they shared a bedroom but were never intimate.

In a recorded police interrogation played for jurors, Gillis admitted to being angry and jealous after learning of Allison’s romantic interests in another woman.

Gillis did not testify during the trial, and no witnesses were called to testify on her behalf.

Defense attorney Brian Aston argued prosecutors were unable to prove Gillis intended to shoot Allison. He said testimony from a state police ballistics expert supported the defense theory that the shooting was an accident. State police expert Matthew Pergar testified earlier in the two-day trial that the gun routinely misfired when dropped or struck.

Aston said Gillis, a military veteran whom the defense argued was experienced with firearms, had no expectation the loaded shotgun would discharge after being grabbed from a table.

“She expected the firearm to work properly and it didn’t,” Aston told jurors. “You don’t know what was in her mind when that gun went off.”