In the late hours of a Thursday in August 2014, the body of 18-year-old Brian Hall was discovered lying on Annan Way in the Homewood neighborhood of Pittsburgh. A passerby, initially mistaking him for a doll or a dummy, soon realized the grim reality of the situation and alerted the authorities. The young man, a Black male from Penn Hills, had been shot multiple times, with wounds to his head, right hand, and right leg.
Police believe he may have been lying on the street for as long as an hour before he was found.
At the time of his death, Brian Hall was a wanted individual. Allegheny County police had issued a warrant for his arrest in connection with a shooting in Wilkinsburg in May of the previous year. In that incident, Hall, then 17, was accused of attempted homicide and other charges.
The story took another turn when, just a day before his own demise, Hall was identified by police in New Kensington as the primary suspect in a double homicide. Investigators believe Hall was responsible for the shooting deaths of Shannon Bongartz and John Russ, which were thought to be the result of a dispute over drugs and money.
Despite the circumstances surrounding his life and death, the investigation into who killed Brian Hall has not yielded any arrests. As of early 2015, police had not publicly identified any suspects or a motive in his murder, and the case remained an open and ongoing investigation.
