PITTSBURGH — A Penn Hills man has been arrested in a homicide committed last month in Pittsburgh's Elliott neighborhood.
Derek Lee, 26, is facing charges including criminal homicide, robbery and firearm possession in the shooting death of Leonard Butler, 44, police said.
Butler was shot in the basement of his home on Lakewood Street in Elliott on Oct. 14, police said. Officers found him lying unresponsive on the floor outside a bathroom.
According to a criminal complaint, Butler's girlfriend and mother of his child told police that she was in a second-floor bedroom when Butler called her to the living room. It was there that she saw two men with guns and partially covered faces.
Butler and his girlfriend were forced into the basement and told to get on their knees, the complaint stated. One of the men demanded money from Butler, who said he didn't have anything. A stun gun was then used on Butler several times and he was pistol whipped.
Butler's girlfriend told police that one of the men went upstairs, at which point Butler and the second man struggled over a gun and a single shot was fired. The second man then ran out of the house.
A witness, who has not been identified, provided a license plate number to police that matched a 2014 Nissan Altima that had been rented by Lee, officials said.
Butler's girlfriend identified Lee as one of the two men, but not the shooter, the complaint stated.
Authorities said Saturday that Lee was taken into custody and taken to the Allegheny County Jail.
Lee had previously been sentenced to prison for his involvement in the shooting of five Duquesne University basketball players in 2006. Lee fired his gun in that incident, but did not hit anyone.
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