2 Pittsburgh women to face trial in shooting death of teen in Wilkinsburg

Two women charged in the shooting death last month of a 16-year-old boy in Wilkinsburg were held for trial Friday following a preliminary hearing in Pittsburgh Municipal Court.

Kira Jackson, 23, and Alicia Johnson, 23, are charged with homicide and other offenses in the death of Kevin Wilson on March 31.

Two people — an Allegheny County Police homicide detective and a witness to the shooting — testified before District Judge Matthew Brungo. Testimony largely mirrored information contained in a criminal complaint against both women.

Police allege that Jackson and Johnson were part of a group of up to eight people who were involved in verbal and physical fights on Hill Avenue in a residential portion of Wilkinsburg before gunfire broke out that night around 10 p.m.

Shania Ifill, who said the shots had been fired at her, filmed the incident on her phone.

She testified that people in a group chat — including Jackson and Johnson — had threatened to fight her and “come down to my house and shoot up the house” prior to Wilson’s death.

Ifill said that a group of about eight people arrived at her home and one of them fought with her cousin, who was not identified.

After the fistfight ended, she said, Johnson and Jackson — along with a third person who she could not identify or describe — began shooting in her direction.

County Detective Steven Hitchings said police believe there were either two or three shooters, based on video evidence and the 15 shell casings found at the scene.

Video filmed by Ifill, the victim himself and a nearby doorbell camera do not definitively show who the shooters were, Hitchings testified.

Ifill said the bullets “rushed by me” and fatally struck Wilson in the chest.

During her testimony, Ifill provided conflicting accounts of where the shooters and the victim were at the time of the killing.

She also provided various descriptions regarding the location of a streetlight, which she said helped illuminate the scene well enough for her to identify Jackson and Johnson as the shooters, but not well enough for her to clearly see others involved.

After the hearing, Kelvin Morris, a lawyer representing Johnson, said the case revolved around a witness whose testimony seemed to be “inconsistent.”

The defendants remain in jail without bail as they await trial.