March 31, 2023
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Dominic Billa, 21, was shot and killed at the Philadelphia Mills mall in March 2021. A jury convicted Gregory Smith of murder, but acquitted his alleged co-conspirer, Joseph Dorsey, of all charges.
A jury convicted one of the two men charged in the fatal shooting at the Philadelphia Mills mall. The other was acquitted of all charges.
Gregory Smith, 23, was found guilty Thursday of third-degree murder and related charges for killing 21-year-old Dominic Billa and firing at his cousin after a fist fight broke out in the mall's food court in March 2021. Joseph Dorsey, who was cleared of all charges, will be released from prison.
Smith, who is being held without bail, will be sentenced June 9.
Investigators determined Smith opened fire during the fight, killing Billa, the step-son of a homicide detective in the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office. At the time, Smith was out on bail on several other offenses, including gun possession charges.
"Opening fire in a crowded shopping mall should be unimaginable in our society," said Attorney General Michelle Henry. "Yet, that is precisely what Gregory Smith did, causing irreparable devastation and demonstrating yet another example of the need for strong enforcement of firearms laws."
During the trial, prosecutors alleged that Smith and Dorsey conspired to confront Billa, whom they disliked, after Dorsey spotted him in the mall, KYW reported. The defense argued that Billa was the aggressor and that Smith and Dorsey acted in self-defense.
Billa was shot twice in chest and pronounced dead at the scene. The Northeast Philly mall was placed on lockdown amid the initial search for the shooter. Prosecutors said the men fled the mall on a SEPTA bus and hid out in a South Jersey hotel.
