In the spring of 2007, a string of violence unfolded in Pittsburgh that left two cousins dead and a family grappling with a painful loss. 27-year-old Thomas Howard, a Black male, was fatally shot on April 27, 2007, in the city's Hill District. His death was not an isolated event but rather a grim chapter in a story of retaliation that had begun just days earlier.
The tragic sequence of events was set in motion with the shooting of Howard's cousin, Jabreel Scott. Scott was gunned down on a downtown Pittsburgh street, an act that police believed was a retaliatory strike. This belief was later substantiated when authorities arrested and charged Terrell Childs with Scott's murder. Investigators determined that the motive for Scott's killing was revenge.
In the wake of his cousin's death, Thomas Howard's life was also cut short. He was in an apartment in the Hill District when a knock came at the door. When Howard answered, he was shot. He was rushed to a local hospital but ultimately succumbed to his injuries. At the time, Pittsburgh police detectives stated that they believed Howard was specifically targeted and that his murder was connected to the death of his cousin. They indicated that they had some leads in the case but had not identified a suspect.
Despite the clear connection in the minds of investigators between the two slayings, the path to justice for Thomas Howard has remained elusive. While the man responsible for Jabreel Scott's death was eventually convicted and sentenced to life in prison, no arrests have ever been made in Howard's murder. His case is now considered a cold case, one of the many unsolved homicides in the city of Pittsburgh. With no suspect publicly identified or charged, the full story of who was responsible for Thomas Howard's death remains untold, leaving his family with unanswered questions and a search for closure that has spanned over a decade.
