McKeesport man sentenced in fatal shooting over $100 debt
A McKeesport man who shot and killed another man in 2017 in McKeesport in a fight over a $100 debt will serve between 7.5 and 20 years in prison for the crime, according to the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office.
Damian Ashley, 29, pleaded guilty to one count of voluntary manslaughter and two firearms violations in the shooting death of Wyatt Gaza, 28, in the 1600 block of Jenny Lind Street.
Ashley and Gaza were fighting about $100, and both men fired shots at each other, police said. Gaza died at the scene. Ashley sought treatment at a hospital and was later charged by police with homicide.
On Monday, Allegheny County Judge Kevin Sasinoski sentenced Ashley for that crime, along with a 5-to-10-year sentence on charges of receiving stolen property and two firearms charges in an unrelated case.
The sentences will run concurrent to one another, according to the DA’s office.
Tom Davidson is a TribLive news editor. He has been a journalist in Western Pennsylvania for more than 25 years. He can be reached at tdavidson@triblive.com.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.