2 men plead guilty in fatal Penn Hills shooting
Two men on Wednesday pleaded guilty in connection with a 2022 shooting death in Penn Hills.
Brandin Demonde Jackson, 33, of Wilkinsburg, and Raquan Jackson, 24, of Penn Hills will be sentenced July 10 by Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jill E. Rangos.
The two are not related.
Brandin Jackson pleaded guilty to third-degree murder, burglary, conspiracy and a firearm count stemming from the June 14, 2022, fatal shooting of Shawn Brookins, who was killed inside his home on Crescent Pines Drive.
Raquan Jackson pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit homicide, while charges of criminal homicide and burglary were withdrawn.
Police said Brandin Jackson was one of two people who killed Brookins, while Raquan Jackson was the getaway driver.
The third suspect has not been charged.
According to Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Berosh, around 1:48 a.m. that day, Brookins was home with his girlfriend when the power went out.
When he went to the basement to check on it, she heard two gunshots. She later saw two people fleeing from the house.
Berosh said that detectives were able to tie the two men to the crime through cell phone messages and GPS data on Raquan Jackson’s vehicle, as well as license plate reading cameras.
Paula Reed Ward is a TribLive reporter covering federal and Allegheny County courts. She joined the Trib in 2020 after spending nearly 17 years at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, where she was part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team. She is the author of "Death by Cyanide." She can be reached at pward@triblive.com.
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