An Arnold man who admitted to fatally shooting a home intruder in self-defense was sentenced Friday to serve up to 17 years in prison because he wasn’t allowed to own guns.
Malique Jamal Black, 26, pleaded guilty in October to weapons and drug charges in three cases dating to 2022 in which prosecutors said he sold drugs and illegally possessed guns. One weapon, a stolen .45-caliber Glock handgun, was used in the Jan. 12, 2024, self-defense shooting of Allen L. Austin Jr., 29.
Austin was shot after he broke into Black’s Fourth Avenue home, where nearly $40,000 in cash and illegal drugs were kept, police said.
Black, according to court records, claimed he grabbed a gun after he heard glass break while he and friends were upstairs playing video games. Black told investigators he shot an unknown intruder as he came up the stairs.
Westmoreland County District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli declined to pursue homicide charges against Black and determined the shooting was justified.
Witnesses said Austin was not alone when he broke into Black’s home, but no one else has been charged in connection with the fatal shooting.
Assistant District Attorney Katie Ranker argued for a lengthy prison sentence for Black, saying his criminal history of repeated illegal gun possessions and pending drug charges led to the fatal shooting.
Black was a convicted felon barred from possessing firearms and was free on bail awaiting weapons and drug charges at the time of the fatal shooting, according to prosecutors.
“He was a known drug dealer in the New Kensington area. Yes, someone broke into his home and he shot him, but if he hadn’t been in possession of drugs and cash this might not have happened. It’s no coincidence someone broke into his home,” Ranker said.
Westmoreland County Common Pleas Judge Scott Mears sentenced Black to serve 5½ to 12 years in prison for illegal gun possession in connection to the fatal shooting.
The judge also imposed a consecutive 2½ to five-year prison sentence for illegal gun possession related to a 2022 search of the same home in July 2022. According to court records, police found three guns, ammunition, 15 pounds of marijuana, crack cocaine and heroin.
The judge said he took into account that Austin’s shooting was in self-defense, but could not ignore it was done so with a weapon Black was not permitted to possess.
“I’ve got to send a message because he has been here … before,” Mears said.
Black was also charged in 2023 and pleaded guilty to drug counts related to a search of his vehicle following a traffic stop in Lower Burrell.