Police Arrest 18-Year-Old Accused Of Shooting & Killing Friend In Allentown
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Pittsburgh Police arrested an 18-year-old in the shooting death of a man in Allentown.
Christopher Rodriguez, 20, was shot in the face late Monday night outside his home in the 1500 block of Arlington Avenue.
He ran inside and died a short time later.
On Tuesday, police arrested 18-year-old Kenneth Murphy.
Police say Murphy and Rodriguez were friends. At first, Murphy told police he just stopped by to use a cell phone charger, but a witness told investigators Murphy was there to buy a gun.
When confronted with the information, police say Murphy broke down crying, and said it was accident.
According to court papers, Murphy said he didn't have the money to buy the gun, but was looking at one anyway. He told officers he didn't know the gun was loaded and it went off when he was looking at it, striking Rodriguez.
The medical examiner says Rodriguez was shot four times, including once in the face.
A neighbor, who knows Rodriguez, said there's no way Murphy's story is true.
"A gun does not go off that many times if it's an accident. There's no way," the neighbor said.
The neighbor also doesn't believe Rodriguez was involved in criminal activity,
"This family gets up and goes to work every day, their family is here all the time. The mother of the woman that lives here is here all the time. There's no way that type of activity is going on," the neighbor said.
Murphy told officers he ran off with the murder weapon and two other guns because he didn't think anyone would believe it was an accident due to his past criminal record.
Police also recovered a bag of guns in a nearby wooded area, after Murphy told them he threw the bag there.
Murphy is being held in the Allegheny County Jail and faces a list of charges including, criminal homicide, receiving stolen property and various weapons violations.
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