A McKeesport teen awaiting trial for homicide orchestrated a hit on a police informant from an Allegheny County Jail cell, using code words like “lottery numbers” and “taco shells” to instruct another teen to carry out the crime, police said Wednesday.
Allegheny County Police have charged both teens — Daemond Artemus, 17, and the alleged triggerman, John Perry, 18, of Duquesne — with homicide, attempted homicide and criminal conspiracy in connection with a double shooting in Duquesne that left the informant wounded and his girlfriend dead.
Investigators accused Artemus of arranging the hit in order to wipe out a witness expected to testify against him in his homicide case.
“Ticket in, but that (expletive) dead,” Artemus, 17, said in a Sept, 25 phone call from jail with Perry, according to a criminal complaint in the case. “(I do not) care who puts the ticket in as long as they win.”
Police claim the lingo refers to Artemus asking Perry to have the witness killed.
Nine days later, on Oct. 4, Perry entered a Duquesne home through an unlocked window shortly before 3 a.m. and shot the alleged informant and his girlfriend, Niejah Hill, 23, while the pair slept in bed, the complaint said.
Hill — who was shot three times, including twice in the head — died inside the Orchard Park Avenue home, the complaint said. Police said the informant survived, though a bullet grazed his right shoulder blade and he was hospitalized in stable condition.
The informant later told police he believed someone was targeting him because he had to testify in a criminal case.
Patrick Nightingale, a lawyer who represents Artemus, noted that the charges are based on unproven allegations.
“As it stands right now, I maintain my client’s innocence and look forward to defending him in court,” Nightingale said.
Slinging slang
The criminal complaint against the teens lays out how police believe they developed their plan.
On Sept. 23, Artemus used a fellow inmate’s account to call Perry. Artemus told Perry to pretend to remain close to the informant.
The informant later told police Perry was dating the informant’s sister, the complaint said.
Perry told Artemus he’d go to the alleged informant’s house and leave a window unlocked, so he could get back in when the informant was sleeping, the complaint said.
On Sept. 25, Artemus, again calling from a fellow inmate’s account, told Perry he doesn’t care who put the “ticket in,” the complaint said. After they win, Artemus said, they should celebrate with “taco shells,” referring to shell casings, and clean up their mess, according to police.
A week after the shooting, Artemus again called Perry from jail and they discussed “the other night,” according to police.
Perry told Artemus he “hit for 20,” the complaint said.
“Only one of the tickets won,” Artemus responded, according to the complaint.
All calls made by incarcerated individuals from the jail are recorded and preserved in case they need to be used for evidence, but they’re not all monitored in real time, jail spokesman Jesse Geleynse told TribLive.
McKeesport homicide
The same day of the last call, where Artemus and Perry discussed the Oct. 4 shooting, detectives obtained a search warrant for Perry’s cell phone, the complaint said.
Using signals from nearby cell phone towers, FBI analysis revealed Perry’s phone was “at the area of the crime scene around the time of the crime,” investigators said.
Artemus has been in jail since being arrested on Sept. 2 for a homicide earlier that day. Police said he fatally shot Dylan Saula, 22, of North Versailles in the back of the head on McKeesport’s Lysle Boulevard a day earlier.
A nearby security camera showed someone in a red sedan push a body, later identified as Saula, out of the car shortly before 11 a.m., police said.
Artemus has denied any knowledge of the shooting during police interviews, according to a criminal complaint.
Artemus remains in the Allegheny County Jail without bail. Perry was awaiting arraignment on Wednesday.
Judges have denied bail to Artemus four times, court records show. His jury trial in the Saula case is set to begin March 25.
Nightingale, Artemus’ attorney, told TribLive that he has filed a motion to move the cases against his client to juvenile court.
Perry was arraigned Wednesday and remains in jail with no bail. No attorney was listed for him in online court records.
