Shawn Cavender, a 39-year-old Black male from Pittsburgh, was shot on January 19, 2016, inside a home in the 100 block of Southern Avenue in Pittsburgh's Mount Washington neighborhood. Police said the shooting followed an argument shortly before 11 p.m., and the shooter fled after Cavender was wounded. He was found with multiple gunshot wounds to his lower extremities and taken to UPMC Mercy Hospital, where he later died.
The case soon centered on Tyrone Germany of McKees Rocks.
Prosecutors said Germany had gone to Cavender's home during a drug deal, and Germany's own recorded statement became a key part of the case. Germany told police he had given Cavender $200 for heroin, but Cavender returned without money or drugs and with a gun in his pocket. Germany claimed the argument turned physical, saying Cavender put him in a headlock before Germany grabbed the gun and shot him twice in the lower body. His defense argued that the shooting was self-defense, or at most manslaughter, but the homicide charge was held for court, and Germany remained in the Allegheny County Jail without bail.
By trial, the court record described the fatal encounter as a shooting during a drug deal after a short confrontation between the two men. On December 19, 2016, following a nonjury trial before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Philip Ignelzi, Germany was convicted of third-degree murder and firearms offenses in Cavender's death.
Germany was sentenced on March 13, 2017, to 20 to 40 years in prison for third-degree murder, with no further penalty imposed for the firearm conviction noted in the appellate decision. He challenged the conviction and sentence on appeal, arguing that the evidence did not prove malice, that the prosecution had not overcome his self-defense claim, and that the sentence failed to account for his circumstances. On December 20, 2018, the Pennsylvania Superior Court affirmed the judgment of sentence, leaving the conviction and punishment in place.
