2 teens arrested in shooting death of Pittsburgh high school student

Pittsburgh Police have arrested two teens in the fatal shooting of an Oliver Citywide Academy student last year.

Police charged Eugene Watson, 18, and his brother, Brandon Watson, 17, both of the city’s Crafton Heights neighborhood, with criminal homicide, criminal conspiracy, and two firearms violations. They are both charged as adults.

The Watsons were both in the Allegheny County Jail without bond on Friday, court records show.

They are charged in connection with the Jan. 19, 2022 shooting death of Marquis Campbell, 15. Campbell was shot as he sat in a van outside the school in the city’s Marshall-Shadeland neighborhood.

A witness told police that, between September and November 2021, Campbell was involved in three physical fights with the Watsons at a local school, resulting in three-day suspensions from school, according to a criminal complaint obtained by the Tribune-Review.

The criminal complaint said “words exchanged involving previous friends’/relatives’ murders” was the cause of the fights, according to the unnamed witness. All three teens left the unnamed school and a resolution to the disputes was never achieved, the witness told police.

Police responded at 1:43 p.m. on Jan. 19, 2022 to Oliver Citywide Academy, a special education center for students in grades three through 12, in the 2300 block of Brighton Road, according to the criminal complaint.

Police said they found Campbell lying, unresponsive, on the floor of a white Ford Transit van. He appeared to have been shot in the chest.

Campbell was rushed to Allegheny General Hospital, where he died at 3 p.m., police said. The medical examiner said the cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds and the manner of death was homicide.

Surveillance footage showed the two Watsons walking near the school van on Jan. 19, 2022, police said. One of them talked with the driver of the vehicle, then fired two shots into the van’s partially open window, striking Campbell in the chest. The driver was not injured.

Police followed fresh footprints in the snow to Bethel Assembly of God, where various articles of clothing — a black, hooded jacket, black sweatpants and black Ugg shoes — were found behind an air-conditioning unit, police said. Police found a fully loaded, 38-special revolver in the jacket’s right pocket.

Tests later revealed traces of Brandon Watson’s DNA on the clothing and on the gun, police said.

A Giant Eagle receipt also was found in Brandon Watson’s clothing, leading police to the Crafton supermarket, where they said they viewed additional footage of the teens.

Police said they also discovered clothing that Eugene Watson shed after the shooting.

School officials, at the time, said Oliver Citywide teachers remember Marquis as a diligent student with an infectious smile who had attended the school since the third grade.

In a statement Friday night, Pittsburgh Public Schools expressed gratitude over the the arrest.

“As educators, we are deeply saddened by the damaging and lasting impact community violence has on all young people,” the statement. released by spokeswoman Ebony Pugh, said. “We grieve for the multiple young lives we have lost due to gun violence. While we also mourn the lost potential that occurs when young people decide to commit deadly violence, should the suspects be found guilty, we expect justice to be served. It must be clear that our community will not tolerate heinous acts of gun violence anywhere near our schools that put the safety of our students and staff in danger.”