An inmate at the Westmoreland County Prison is charged in connection to a 2023 murder in New Kensington.
Raijon Deqae Wilson, 30, of New Kensington was charged with homicide in the shooting death of Troy Vickers Jr.
On Oct. 19, 2023, Vickers was found unresponsive on his front porch along Kenneth Avenue, having suffered a gunshot wound to the head, according to a criminal complaint. Two days later, he died at a Pittsburgh hospital.
Police said witnesses detailed months of disputes between Wilson and Vickers leading up to the shooting.
“There was known animosity between Vickers and Raijon Wilson,” the criminal complaint said.
Witnesses said the two argued at a Brackenridge bar and again at outside Vickers home several months before the shooting, according to the complaint. Police also said the pair had a fight at the Family Dollar Store in Tarentum the month before Vickers’ was shot.
Security camera footage from Kenneth Avenue captured multiple videos of a Jeep registered in Wilson’s name driving near Vickers’ home the day of the shooting.
Footage showed the car parked at an empty lot on Leishman Avenue around 10:47 a.m.
It then showed a person leaving the car, walking through the lot toward Kenneth Avenue and returning to the car three minutes later.
A witness, who was with Wilson on Oct. 19, identified Wilson as the person in the videos, according to the criminal complaint.
Audio surveillance from the intersection of 5th Avenue and 9th Street captured two gunshots around 10:49 a.m. the day police say Vickers was shot, according to the complaint.
Wilson faces a first degree murder charge and two counts of prohibited gun possession. He also faces a misdemeanor charge for terroristic threats.
Wilson has a previous unrelated conviction that banned him from having a gun, according to a press release from the Westmoreland County District Attorney’s office.
In 2022 Vickers was charged with attempted homicide related to a shooting at the Sheldon Park housing development in Harrison, but the charges were dropped.