Brothers plead guilty to 2019 fatal shooting in Penn Hills home invasion
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Two brothers accused of killing a Penn Hills man during a home invasion in late 2019 pleaded guilty this week to criminal homicide and other charges.
Laron Cornell Howard, 22, and Laquon Khylil Perkins, 21, both of Swissvale, each were charged with criminal homicide, robbery, burglary and conspiracy in connection with the Oct. 9, 2019, fatal shooting of Aaron Evans, 35, during a home invasion in the 7200 block of Lawton Street.
Howard pleaded guilty on Monday before Judge Beth Lazzara in exchange for a plea deal that calls for him to spend 20 to 40 years in state prison, according to the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office.
Perkins appeared before Lazzara on Tuesday morning and pleaded guilty to the same charges and was sentenced to 25 to 50 years in prison.
Several days after the shooting, Allegheny County Police obtained arrest warrants for the pair. Authorities said they still are working to identify a third man they say participated in the home invasion that left Evans dead.
Howard and Perkins were arrested a little more than a week after the home invasion by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies in Lancaster, Calif., and extradited to Pennsylvania, according to Allegheny County Police.
Investigators said Evans’ wife alerted police about the home invasion.
She was not at home at the time, but police said the couple’s day care center called her when Evans failed to pick up their children. She checked the latest home security system surveillance videos and saw three men with guns holding Evans to the ground, according to the criminal complaints.
When Penn Hills police arrived, they found Evans dead in a hallway near the kitchen. He had been shot in the head and stabbed, according to the complaints.
The surveillance video from the home shows three men dragging Evans into the house, which was ransacked, the complaints said.
Police said they identified Perkins from the video and were able to determine that Howard also was one of the men involved.
The brothers were on probation for other crimes when they murdered Evans, police said.