Details in Erie slaying at rental house remain scant as Arizona man waives drug charges
The source of gunshots that killed an Erie man outside of a short-term rental house on the city's east side in late January remains a mystery.
No new information in the death of 30-year-old Shannon Crosby was revealed Friday during the brief court appearance of Deontray E. Keomany-Smith, 19, of Avondale, Arizona, one of four men charged with drug offenses related to the Jan. 27 incident.
Erie police detectives investigating Crosby's death said they are still working to identify others who might have been present when the shooting happened and to identify who fired gunshots that morning.
No one has been charged with fatally shooting Crosby at a short-time rental house at 3904 McClelland Ave. Investigators said the house was being rented by four men from Arizona, including Keomany-Smith, at the time, and they believe the shooting happened during an attempted home-invasion robbery.
Court appearance
Keomany-Smith waived to court a felony count of conspiracy to commit possession with intent to deliver and a misdemeanor count of a controlled substance at his preliminary hearing Friday morning. He remains free after posting his $150,000 bond five days after he turned himself into Erie police and was arraigned on the charges on March 10.
Erie police filed similar drug charges against three other Arizona men: Kortez L. Murray, 18, Saul Felix, 21, and Abner Gonzalez, 20.
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Murray and Felix were taken into custody in late January and waived their criminal cases to court at their preliminary hearings on Feb. 23. Felix is free after posting a $100,000 bond. Murray remains in the Erie County Prison on a $250,000 bond, according to online court records.
Gonzalez remains at large.
None of the three apprehended in the case spoke about the events of Jan. 27 during their brief court appearances, when they waived their charges to court.
The shooting
Erie police officers who were sent on Jan. 27 at 12:07 a.m. to the 3800 block of McClelland Ave. to investigate a reported shooting said they found Crosby lying in the street. He was taken to UPMC Hamot, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.
Authorities ID Erie shooting victimAn armed confrontation at an east Erie rental house that led to a shooting that killed an Erie man and wounded another
An autopsy determined that Crosby died of a gunshot wound to the trunk, said Erie County Coroner Lyell Cook, who ruled the death a homicide — Erie's first of 2022.
Pair waive charges in Erie probeThe circumstances surrounding a Jan. 27 shootout at a short-term rental house in east Erie that left a city man dead
Investigators said Murray was shot in the face and the torso during the encounter at the rental house. He was taken to Saint Vincent Hospital for treatment of his gunshot wounds and was later transferred to UPMC Hamot.
Felix, who accompanied Murray to the hospital, would tell investigators that the group had traveled from the Phoenix area to Erie with a number of fentanyl pills after one of them made contact with a person from Erie who wanted to purchase the pills, according to information in Murray's criminal complaint.
Suspects sought in Erie killingErie police said investigators are looking for "multiple persons of interest" as the probe continues into a shootout at
Felix told police the plan was to sell the pills for $30,000. The group arrived in Erie on Jan. 25 and a drug deal took place that day at an apartment complex near the McClelland Avenue rental house, according to information in the complaint. Another drug deal took place at the same apartment complex the next day, investigators wrote in the complaint.
Fed aid sought in Erie drug probeErie police launched a homicide investigation on the early morning of Jan. 27 after a 30-year-old city man was found
Detectives said they corroborated Felix's statements through text message threads and photographs found during a search of Felix's cellphone.
Investigators said they found shell casings of multiple calibers at the shooting scene, but they have not commented on any other evidence collected in the investigation.
Anyone with information that could assist Erie police in the ongoing homicide investigation is asked to call Lt. Michael Hertel at 814-870-1260 or Detective Patrick Ginkel at 814-870-1161.
Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNhahn.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie homicides: Suspects still unknown in Jan. killing at rental house
