Man Accused In Deadly Jeannette High School Football Game Shooting Has Preliminary Hearing
JEANNETTE (KDKA) -- The suspect in a deadly shooting outside a high school football game appeared in court.
As the final minutes ticked down in the Sept. 6 game at McKee Stadium featuring Jeannette and Imani Christian Academy, someone started shooting.
People ran for cover and described the scene as chaotic.
Just outside the gates, 48-year-old Dameian Williams was shot dead.
Police arrested Greg Harper and charged him with pulling the trigger. His preliminary hearing was Wednesday.
Court records show the 40-year-old faces a homicide charge, as well as one count of recklessly endangering another person.
Police say Harper and Williams were fighting.
Harper claims he was knocked to the ground after Williams hit him twice in the head.
Harper told police he pulled out a gun and shot Williams in the chest.
"It's clear this is a self-defense case," said defense attorney Patrick Thomassey. "Mr. Williams, the deceased, was a thug. He was known to be a thug in the community, by all the police and everyone else."
Williams' sister was upset at the way her brother was being portrayed.
"Everybody's a thug when it comes to something like this," Tanesha Williams said. "From the support of the Jeannette community, you could see my brother may have been some thug, as they call it. But he was a good man. Everybody loved him."
"It's clear from the testimony that Mr. Williams was the aggressor here," Thomassey said. "The question becomes was the use of deadly force, under the circumstances, justified?"