On a summer evening in Pittsburgh's Hazelwood neighborhood, tragedy struck when 32-year-old Anthony Griffin, a Black man, was found shot on the front steps of a home on Monongahela Street. It was shortly after 10 p.m. on July 5, 2010, when police responded to reports of a shooting. Upon their arrival, they discovered Griffin with gunshot wounds to his head and torso; he was pronounced dead at the scene.
In the immediate aftermath, homicide detectives had not determined a motive for the shooting and no arrests had been made. The investigation into Griffin's death was ongoing in the months that followed, but as of late 2010, no one had been charged with the homicide.
In a separate and earlier incident in the Pittsburgh area, the family of another man named Anthony Griffin was left with lingering questions following his death. On April 4, 2003, 22-year-old Anthony L. Griffin of Penn Hills died from a gunshot wound to the head. The Allegheny County coroner officially ruled his death a suicide. However, Griffin's family publicly contested this finding, expressing their belief that he was not suicidal and that there were inconsistencies in the police account of his death. Members of the Greater Pittsburgh Fugitive Task Force had gone to Griffin's apartment to arrest him on outstanding warrants. According to the officers, they were outside the apartment when they heard a single shot from within. Griffin's family and their attorney pointed to what they described as irregularities in the investigation, including the handling of the weapon found at the scene and a significant delay before medics were allowed to check Griffin's vital signs. The family's concerns were voiced during an open inquest into his death, and their lawyer was invited to review the coroner's investigative records.
