North Side man pleads guilty, mentally ill in Brighton Heights fatal shooting

PITTSBURGH — A North Side man pleaded guilty but mentally ill Monday to third-degree murder for killing his neighbor two years ago.

Laron Smith, 26, will be sentenced by Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Anthony M. Mariani on Jan. 5 for the shooting death of Ernest Mills Jr., 28, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports.

Mills was walking with his girlfriend to get pizza the afternoon of Nov. 9, 2020.

Smith lived in the same multi-family house as Mills, said Assistant District Attorney Emma Schoedel. The afternoon of the shooting, a witness saw Smith exhibiting “strange behavior,” including screaming profanities to himself. The witness saw Smith pull a tan ski mask over his face and begin to follow Mills and his girlfriend.

The witness then heard a single gunshot followed by several more. Mills was struck three times in the back and thigh. Officers tried to save Mills but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police arrested Smith during a SWAT situation two days later.

Schoedel told the court that Smith was diagnosed with schizophrenia.

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