In the late morning of February 26, 2020, a burst of gunfire shattered the quiet of the 200 block of Taft Avenue in Pittsburgh's Beltzhoover neighborhood. When the echo of the shots faded, 33-year-old Robert Bennett Fulton III, a Black male, was left lying in the street, critically wounded by a gunshot to his chest. First responders rushed him to UPMC Mercy Hospital, but his injuries proved to be too severe. He was pronounced dead in the emergency room at 12:10 p.m.
The Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office later officially ruled his death a homicide.
The investigation into Fulton's murder quickly fell to the Pittsburgh Police Major Crimes detectives. They processed the scene on Taft Avenue, a residential street nestled on a hillside. In the days and weeks that followed, a picture of what transpired began to emerge. The key to breaking the case came from a combination of modern police work and community cooperation. Investigators were able to utilize surveillance video from the area, which, along with fingerprints belonging to the victim, pointed them toward a suspect.
Less than a month after the fatal shooting, on March 17, 2020, Pittsburgh police announced an arrest. They took 31-year-old Daniel Miles into custody, charging him with criminal homicide and carrying a firearm without a license. Miles was subsequently held in the Allegheny County Jail as he awaited legal proceedings. The case moved through the justice system, and on November 8, 2021, Daniel Miles pleaded guilty to the murder of Robert Fulton. His admission of guilt in court brought a definitive, though somber, conclusion to the investigation.
With his guilty plea, Daniel Miles was sentenced to serve 18 to 40 years in prison for the killing of Robert Bennett Fulton III. The resolution of the case in the courts provided a measure of justice for a life cut short by violence. The motive for the shooting was not widely reported, but the successful identification, arrest, and conviction of the perpetrator closed a painful chapter for the community and all those who knew and mourned the loss of Robert Fulton.
