A Pittsburgh man who cut a a plea deal will spend at least 23 years in state prison for killing a teenager in Sheraden two years ago.
Malachi Smith, 20, from Pittsburgh’s Fairywood area, was sentenced on Tuesday to 23½ to 47 years in prison for the death of Israel Walker-Young, 18.
Smith pled guilty in May to third-degree murder and carrying a pistol without a license before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Kevin G. Sasinoski.
According to police, Smith fired several bullets from the bed of a Dodge pickup vehicle on the night of May 31, 2024.
At Tuesday’s hearing, no one testified about the victim’s impact, and no one represented Smith.
The defendant spoke briefly and apologized to Walker-Young’s family.
“It wasn’t intentional,” he said. “I did not wish to injure anyone. I was afraid. “I was young.”
Smith did not express what he feared.
Around 10 p.m., Pittsburgh police responded to a ShotSpotter alarm in the 600 block of Sherwood Avenue in Sheraden, which reported 17 bullets fired. Walker-Young was found to be unresponsive. He was shot in the chest and leg and died later in Allegheny General Hospital.
According to the criminal complaint, officers from the city’s Real Time Crime Center immediately analyzed surveillance cameras in the vicinity and identified a silver, older model Dodge Ram pickup vehicle with a distinctive white roof rack near the shooting.
According to authorities, the video showed a man in the truck’s bed firing before fleeing.
According to the criminal complaint, an officer on patrol heard a description of the truck approximately ten minutes later and found it less than a half mile away on Stafford Street.
Although some individuals escaped the truck, investigators were able to obtain statements from at least three persons. They identified Smith, also known as Mal Mal, as the gunman, according to the lawsuit.
Smith was arrested three days later.
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