Joselyn Thomas was an 18-year-old Black woman with a bright future ahead of her. Just days before she was set to leave her home in North Versailles, Pennsylvania, she was preparing for her freshman year in the nursing program at Morgan State University in Baltimore. The last time her mother, Jenna Galloway, saw her, she gave her a kiss and a hug. "I said, 'You be careful,'" Galloway recalled. "She said, 'Everything is going to be all right, Mommy. I love you.'
And she left."
On August 6, 2024, Thomas decided to spend time with her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Albert Williams III, for his 19th birthday. They were at a friend’s apartment in the Cambridge Square Apartments complex in Monroeville when an argument started. Williams was unhappy about Thomas’s plan to attend college out of state and had suggested they take a break. A witness later told police they heard Thomas scream, “‘AJ stop, AJ, stop,’” before three shots were fired. The witness said Williams then went into a bedroom, returned, and fired three more times.
The next day, August 7, after not hearing from her daughter, Galloway reported her missing to the North Versailles police. That afternoon, officers were called to the Monroeville apartment, where they found Thomas’s body. She had been shot multiple times. A few hours later, Williams turned himself in to Allegheny County Police and was arrested. He was charged with criminal homicide.
At his trial, Williams, then 21, claimed he had acted in self-defense. His attorney told the jury that during the argument, Thomas became upset, grabbed a pair of kitchen scissors, and then lunged for a gun that had been left on the couch. The defense described a “chaotic” and “terrifying” struggle, during which Williams fired the weapon because he feared Thomas was going to stab him. Prosecutors, however, argued that the seven shots fired constituted murder. Thomas’s mother testified that she had previously seen Williams assault her daughter and no longer approved of their relationship.
After deliberating for about five hours, the jury found Albert Williams III guilty of voluntary manslaughter. The verdict meant the jury believed he had killed Joselyn Thomas either in the course of a sudden and intense provocation or with an unreasonable belief that he was in danger of death or serious bodily injury. As of September 2026, Williams was awaiting sentencing and faced a maximum of 10 to 20 years in prison.
