Jun 11, 2026 By Mike Jones 5 min read

Kristopher Moorehouse testified he was being punched and choked by Brady Paul while pinned on a chair inside a Canonsburg house last year when he grabbed the nearest object – a .40-caliber handgun – and fired three times, fatally striking the victim with two bullets.

“I was protecting myself,” Moorehouse said. “It was me or him. I chose myself.”

Moorehouse, 21, of Canonsburg, testified for nearly two hours Wednesday during the second day of his homicide trial at the Washington County Courthouse in connection with the Sept. 6 killing of Paul during a house party at 521 Giffin Ave. in the borough.

Moorehouse recalled the party had a group of nine people attending and they were drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana and playing video games, with everyone seemingly getting along.

“Everyone was just chilling. We were having a good time,” Moorehouse said.

Around 10 p.m., Moorehouse and his girlfriend at the time, Gianna Abajace, went to their bedroom to enjoy an intimate moment. Afterward, both were playing on their phones when Paul called him, Moorehouse said. But, according to the defendant, Paul began making sexual advances toward Abajace, telling Moorehouse he wanted to have sex with her.

“Bro, that’s weird as (expletive),” Moorehouse said he told Paul.

Moorehouse, who had the call on speakerphone, said Paul continued to “push the issue” and was insistent on having a sexual encounter with Abajace, which made the couple uneasy.

“She felt uncomfortable because she didn’t feel safe,” Moorehouse said.

Moorehouse said he then called his friend, Deangelo Perkins, who lived at the house and was throwing the party, informing him of the situation. That prompted Perkins to tell Paul he had to leave, which escalated into an argument that Moorehouse said he could hear from the bedroom. Moorehouse left the bedroom and confronted Paul before picking up a non-functioning revolver and held it to his side.

“I’m going to smack the (expletive) out of you,” Moorehouse said he told Paul, indicating he would strike him with the firearm but not shoot him since it did not work.

Perkins took the revolver from Moorehouse and escorted Paul out the back entrance and told him to leave before he locked the door. Moorehouse said he sat in a chair in the living room while Perkins helped another partygoer upstairs to use the bathroom.

A few moments later, Moorehouse said he heard rattling at the rear door and a “bang” as the door flew open. He said he got up to see what was happening when Paul came into the living room and started attacking him, throwing him against a wall and then into a chair before punching him several times.

Defense attorney Jake Mihalov asked Moorehouse why he didn’t get up from the chair and try to leave the altercation.

“How could I get away?” Moorehouse said. “I was in the chair and he was on top of me.”

Moorehouse said Paul then grabbed his throat with both hands and tried to strangle him.

“He’s choking me,” Moorehouse said. “I could not breathe.”

Moorehouse said he grabbed a nearby Glock pistol with his left hand and immediately fired once, missing Paul. But he said he fired again, striking Paul in the right clavicle and then again in the abdomen as the victim stood up and turned his body away. Moorehouse said he then ran past Paul and left the house knowing that the injuries he had inflicted were likely lethal.

“I’m thinking all of this is a dream,” Moorehouse said. “I was flustered.”

Paul, 25, of Canonsburg, stumbled through the living room and out the front door, where he died on the front porch moments later.

During cross-examination, Deputy District Attorney John Friedmann questioned Moorehouse’s motives after Paul had made unwanted overtures to his girlfriend.

“You had a conscious thought to kill Brady Paul,” Friedmann said.

“Shoot, not kill,” Moorehouse responded.

Moorehouse testified that he “shot frantically” and that it was “not my intention to kill” Paul during the altercation. But Friedmann noted that Paul didn’t have a gun, knife or bat, and he suggested that Moorehouse had the opportunity to flee the house before the fight began.

“He had no weapon,” Friedmann said.

“His hands,” Moorehouse said of what Paul used to assault him.

“You had an opportunity to use your hands to defend yourself and you chose to shoot him,” Friedmann said.

Friedmann added that Moorehouse left the house and never called 911 to help Paul or report the shooting. Instead, he fled the region and went to stay with relatives in Parkersburg, W.Va., before returning two days later to turn himself in to Canonsburg authorities.

“You weren’t thinking about saving Brady Paul. You chose to protect yourself,” Friedmann said.

After Moorehouse testified, President Judge Valarie Costanzo adjourned for the day and sent the jurors home with plans to resume the trial this morning. Costanzo said she expected both sides would present their closing arguments and the jury of seven men and five women would start deliberating shortly after that concluded.

Moorehouse, who is being held at the Washington County jail without bond, is facing felony charges of homicide and aggravated assault, along with four counts of reckless endangerment.