In the early morning hours of January 20, 2025, a tragic event unfolded inside a home on Commonwealth Avenue in Duquesne, Pennsylvania, that would ultimately claim the life of 39-year-old Catherine Lawing, a female. Around 5 a.m., shortly after Lawing had returned from a trip to a convenience store, the sound of gunshots echoed through her residence, sending other occupants scrambling for cover behind furniture.
When the shooting stopped, Lawing was found at the bottom of a set of stairs with a gunshot wound to her head. Another man in the home, 30-year-old Sean Russell Johnson Jr. of Turtle Creek, was also shot in the head and was pronounced dead at the scene. Lawing was rushed to UPMC Mercy hospital in critical condition. Despite medical efforts, she succumbed to her injuries a few days later on January 23, 2025.
The investigation into the double homicide pointed to 28-year-old Ishmeil Muhammad of Pittsburgh, who was known to occasionally stay at Lawing's home. Witnesses told police that Muhammad and Johnson had been in an argument several weeks prior to the shooting, reportedly over a woman. That tension appears to have escalated fatally on that January morning. According to a witness, after the gunshots, Muhammad was seen jumping over Lawing's body before leaving the house. Police later recovered a 9mm 'ghost gun' from a sewer grate nearby.
In March 2025, authorities arrested Ishmeil Muhammad. He was charged with two counts of criminal homicide, as well as illegally possessing a firearm, carrying a firearm without a license, and tampering with evidence. A prior robbery conviction made it illegal for him to have a gun. Muhammad is currently awaiting his preliminary hearing for his role in the deaths of Catherine Lawing and Sean Johnson.
