On a late summer evening, the hum of traffic on Interstate 81 was shattered by the sound of gunfire, forever altering the lives of a Syracuse family. It was September 3, 2016, when 18-year-old Dion Givens, a male passenger in a vehicle traveling southbound near Seventh North Street, was struck by a bullet. The shot came from another car, its occupants unleashing a senseless act of violence that would end a young life.
Rushed to Upstate University Hospital, Dion Givens succumbed to his injuries a short time later.
The investigation into the brazen highway shooting led the Onondaga County Sheriff's Office to two suspects. Near the end of September 2016, detectives arrested 30-year-old Maurice Files and 26-year-old Daquan Grobsmith, both of Syracuse. The two men were charged with second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon in connection with the fatal shooting of Givens. Their arraignment took place in the Town of Salina Court, where they were ordered to be held at the Justice Center without bail as the investigation continued.
