Man pleads guilty to 2013 East Hills shooting death of toddler

A Wilkinsburg man who was 14 when he participated in a 2013 drive-by shooting that killed a toddler at an East Hills picnic pleaded guilty Monday to third-degree murder.

A plea agreement between Gregory Parker and the Allegheny County District Attorney’s office called for the defendant to serve 10 years in prison for killing Marcus White Jr.

But Parker will get credit for a total of four years time served — including three years when he was charged in another case involving a separate shooting that was ultimately withdrawn.

Jameela Tyler, Marcus’ mother, objected to Parker getting credit for the additional time served.

“Although he was a kid, my baby was a baby,” she told Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Edward J. Borkowski. “He didn’t get to tie his shoes. He didn’t get to go to school. He didn’t get to say ‘I love you.’

“I feel like this plea is enough.”

Parker, 22, is accused of going with three others to the 2300 block of East Hills Drive about 7:30 p.m. on May 21, 2013, and opening fire on a group there having a picnic.

Marcus, who was 15 months old at the time, was shot and killed. His two aunts, Shedayah and Kadejiah Tyler, were both injured.

Police said that Shedayah Tyler, who was 20, picked Marcus up to try to shield him from the gunfire, but a bullet that struck her in the back traveled through her into his chest.

Parker spoke briefly during Monday’s hearing.

“I would just like to apologize to the victim’s family,” he said. “I am sorry for everything I’ve done.”

The investigation into the case went on for seven years before charges were filed against Parker in 2020.

Then, in May, police filed charges against another alleged shooter in the case, Desaun Watson.

On Friday, Watson was held for trial for criminal homicide. Parker testified against him.

Defense attorney Christopher Patarini told Borkowski that Parker has cooperated from the beginning. His involvement in Marcus’ shooting came to light in early 2020 during the run-up to the trial for the 2016 Wilkinsburg mass shooting that killed six adults and an unborn child.

According to defense arguments in that case, Parker admitted his role in the Baby Marcus shooting during an interview with police in March 2018.

But Deputy District Attorney Stephie Ramaley told the court on Monday that Parker’s confession in March 2018 came under an immunity agreement.

“The commonwealth could not charge him for that,” Ramaley said. “It was protected by an immunity agreement.”

At the time, the district attorney’s office was in the middle of a grand jury investigation for a 2015 shooting at a Homewood vigil. Under criminal court procedure, testimony and materials provided during a grand jury investigation are protected.

Parker was charged in the vigil shooting and was held in jail on those charges for three years before they were withdrawn in February 2020 after the homicide of a commonwealth witness.

During Monday’s plea hearing in the Baby Marcus case, Jameela Tyler told Borkowski that she never knew that Parker confessed to shooting her son.

“I didn’t find out none of this until 2020,” she said.

Borkowski referenced the potential pitfalls of using cooperating witnesses in Parker’s sentencing on Monday, calling them “treacherous waters that have to be navigated carefully but with great difficulty.

“Sometimes, the consequences are convictions. Sometimes the consequences are outright dismissal of charges,” he said. “This is nothing new.”