Homewood Man Charged With 2 Shooting Deaths

Police: Verbal dispute led to Duquesne incident

By Staff Reports
The Tube City Almanac
March 13, 2025
Posted in: Crime and Police News, Duquesne News

A Homewood man is being held on homicide charges in connection with a Jan. 20 shooting in Duquesne that claimed two lives.

Ishmeil A. Muhammad, 28, was arrested Thursday by Allegheny County Police and was awaiting a preliminary hearing, according to court officials.

Muhammad, who police said is known by a variety of aliases, including “Cash” and “Tim,” is charged with criminal homicide in connection with a shooting inside a home on Commonwealth Avenue that claimed the life of Sean R. Johnson Jr., 30 of Turtle Creek and Catherine Lawing, 39, of Duquesne.

Johnson was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Allegheny County medical examiner’s office, while Lawing died three days later at UPMC Mercy Hospital, Uptown.

The chain of events that allegedly led to their deaths began several weeks earlier, according to police investigators.

Police said a third party identified only as “Witness No. 1” was allowing several people to stay at his home in the 100 block of Commonwealth Avenue in exchange for doing odd jobs around the property.

In a criminal complaint filed in Pittsburgh Municipal Court, county police state that two of the occupants of the home — Johnson and a man calling himself “Tim” — had an argument several weeks prior about a woman who both men were reportedly attracted to.

Following the argument, “Tim” left the house for several days, according to the complaint.

Police allege that in the early morning hours of Jan. 20, “Tim” came back to the home and got into another argument with Johnson.

“Witness No. 1” told police that after several minutes, he and another person were able to calm the situation, at which time Lawing left the house to go to a nearby convenience store and purchase smoking products.

When Lawing returned, according to the complaint, the occupants of the house began preparing to smoke marijuana. Witness No. 1 told police he left the living room and was headed for the kitchen when he heard several gun shots and took cover behind furniture.

After hearing additional gun shots, Witness No. 1 told police he discovered Lawing lying on the floor near the entry to the home, and the man known as “Tim” coming downstairs from the second floor. Witness No. 1 told police that “Tim” told him they both had to leave the home, according to the criminal complaint.

The witness told police that as they walked toward Duquesne Boulevard, he was able to break free and went to a nearby home to call 9-1-1. According to the complaint, “Tim” then fled down a nearby alley, Stockton Way.

Police obtained survelliance video from several nearby cameras that show several occupants of the home leaving the residence just before 5 a.m., followed by “Tim” and Witness No. 1.

Duquesne police were sent to the scene a few minutes later, according to Allegheny County emergency dispatchers.

Allegheny County police said that “Tim” has been positively identified from photos and telephone records as Ishmeil Muhammad.

Following a search of the neighborhood by Allegheny County police, county sheriff’s deputies and Duquesne police, investigators said that a 9-mm handgun was recovered from a sewer basin on Stockton Way. The weapon was a so-called “ghost gun” consisting of a polymer plastic frame with no serial number, according to the criminal complaint.

Police said they recovered shell casings at the scene of the shootings which can be linked to the firearm recovered in the sewer grate.

In addition to two counts of criminal homicide, Muhammad is also charged with unlawful possession of a firearm, carrying a firearm without a license, and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence.

Muhammad was being held in Allegheny County Jail to await processing, court officials said.

Originally published March 13, 2025.

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