Trial begins in 2017 shooting death of Woodland Hills student

A key witness to the 2017 shooting death of a Woodland Hills High School 10th grader in Swissvale testified Wednesday that he was the one who set up a drug deal that night.

Keondre Butler testified against William H. Smoot IV, 21, of Homewood on the second day of trial before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Beth A. Lazzara.

Mr. Smoot is accused of killing Vallen Davies- Mack, 17, of Swissvale, on May 18, 2017, at Collingwood Park.

Mr. Butler told the jury that he and Mr. Smoot had been hanging out in Homewood when Mr. Smoot said he wanted to buy marijuana. Mr. Butler said he called Vallen, who he knew sold it.

Mr. Butler told Assistant District Attorney Chris Stone that he and Mr. Smoot then walked to Swissvale to meet Vallen.

“Mr. Smoot pulled out a gun and told Vallen to throw it off,” Mr. Butler said. “I turned around, and I ran.”

As he fled, Mr. Butler told the jury, he heard Vallen shout and then, seconds later, three shots.

Mr. Butler testified that he ran to his sister’s house and learned the next afternoon that Vallen had died.

Mr. Butler admitted that when he was first interviewed by police, he told them a man named “Reg” was the shooter.

“I didn’t want to get in trouble for being there,” Mr. Butler said. But, he continued, “I wasn’t getting nowhere telling them lies.”

That’s when, he explained to the jury, he told them it was Mr. Smoot.

On cross- examination by defense attorney Adam Bishop, Mr. Butler admitted that when he was first questioned by police, he believed that he was a suspect in the homicide. He also confirmed that after the shooting, he did not call or text Vallen to check on him or report what happened to the police.

Mr. Butler admitted that he deactivated the Facebook account that he had used to contact Vallen, and when police went through Mr. Butler’s cellphone, Mr. Bishop said, it showed no text messages for a 38- hour period around the shooting.

Mr. Bishop also raised inconsistencies between Mr. Butler’s recorded statement to police and his testimony at trial, including that he told investigators initially that he stopped and spent time at an abandoned house after he fled the scene of the shooting. During his testimony, Mr. Butler said he did not.

The trial resumes Thursday morning.