Erie man to prison for shooting over cellphone

ERIE, Pa. (AP) — A northwestern Pennsylvania man will spend 21 1/2 to 44 years in prison for what a judge called the “absolutely senseless” shooting that stemmed from an argument over a cellphone during a playground basketball game.

The Erie Times-News says Erie County Judge Ernest DiSantis Jr. imposed the sentence today against 32-year-old Timothy Charity Jr. of Erie.

Charity was convicted in April of third-degree murder and other charges in the Aug. 4 death of 20-year-old Cameron Mitchell Jr., a father of two.

Authorities say Charity shot Mitchell because Charity suspected Mitchell had stolen his cellphone during a game a month earlier. The gun was later recovered from Lake Erie.

Another man had pleaded guilty to lesser charges for giving Charity the gun and identified him as the shooter.