On the evening of February 18, 2015, in a neighborhood near Greenfield and Warner in Gilbert, Arizona, the life of 22-year-old Jovante O'Shay Griffin was tragically cut short. An African American male, Jovante was known affectionately as 'Te'' to his loved ones. Born in San Antonio, Texas, he had moved to Gilbert as a child and became a joyful and active young man who had a passion for sports and the outdoors.
He was an avid fan of the Dallas Cowboys and enjoyed riding his quad and traveling with his family.
That night, gunshots shattered the evening calm, and Gilbert police received numerous calls. When officers arrived at the scene, they discovered Jovante with a gunshot wound. He was rushed to a local hospital, but his injuries proved to be fatal. Another individual, an 18-year-old female, was also injured during the incident but did not require hospitalization. The investigation that followed pointed to the shooting being the result of an illegal drug transaction that had gone wrong.
The Gilbert Police Department quickly identified a suspect in the fatal shooting. In the early morning hours of February 19, 2015, a search warrant was executed at a residence in the neighboring city of Chandler. Eighteen-year-old Randy Clark was taken into custody in connection with the shooting. He was subsequently booked into jail on one count of second-degree murder. The authorities described the homicide as an isolated incident stemming from the drug deal.
