A Hill District man last month confessed to the 2006 fatal shooting of 24-year-old Michael Vaughns at a bus stop on a Lawrenceville corner, according to court testimony yesterday.

During a two-hour questioning on Sept. 26, Rashad Briscoe told detectives that he ripped a $400 gold chain from Mr. Vaughns' neck and shot him, a city police detective said.

"He stated he wanted to tell the truth," Detective J.R. Smith said in a preliminary hearing.

District Judge Leonard J. Hromyak held Mr. Briscoe for trial on a charge of homicide.

A second suspect in the shooting, Christopher Moore, also of the Hill District, faces a hearing Friday.

Shortly after Mr. Vaughns' death, Mr. Moore was found with a Ruger 9 mm handgun. Ballistics experts with the county's Division of Laboratories later determined that the gun was used to kill Mr. Vaughns.

Mr. Moore pointed investigators to Mr. Briscoe, who was being held at the Allegheny County Jail on unrelated charges.

Detective Smith and Detective Scott Evans then questioned Mr. Briscoe, who, at first, denied any connection to the shooting. He eventually changed his story.

On July 6, 2006, according to Detective Smith, Mr. Briscoe and two other men decided they needed some cash. They drove from the Hill District to Lawrenceville, where they spotted Mr. Vaughns on the corner of 44th and Butler streets.

Mr. Briscoe told detectives he left the car, walked up to Mr. Vaughns and pointed a gun at his back. He turned Mr. Vaughns around and ripped off his gold chain.

His gun then went off. A bullet struck Mr. Vaughns' neck. He died 11 days later.

Mr. Briscoe told detectives he jumped in the car, which sped away. He and the two other men abandoned the vehicle in Polish Hill. He later sold Mr. Vaughns' chain for $200.

About a dozen friends and relatives of Mr. Vaughns attended the hearing at city court, Downtown, including the victim's father, Eric Murray of Sheraden.

"People don't come forward these days. I thought I'd never hear anything," said Mr. Murray, 43, who praised police for staying with the case over such a long period. "After two years, you start going on with your life. And then everything reverts back to the day this happened."

He said his son had been coming home from a street fair in Lawrenceville at the time of the shooting.

Mr. Vaughns worked at a pizza shop and was the father of a 3-year-old daughter. He stayed out of trouble, Mr. Murray said.