In a tragic and violent outburst on March 11, 1997, Stanley Pijanowski III, a 52-year-old male, was killed during a shooting spree at the Comerica bank branch he managed on the east side of Detroit. The incident began just before 10:00 a.m. when 21-year-old Allen Lane Griffin Jr. started a rampage that would leave four people dead, including himself.
Griffin, armed with a 12-gauge pump shotgun, first shot and severely wounded a jogger near a high school before stealing a car and driving to the bank.
Inside the bank, chaos erupted as Griffin, described by some witnesses as announcing a holdup and by others as simply screaming incoherently, ordered everyone to the floor. What followed was not a typical robbery. Griffin forced the terrified employees and customers to recite the Lord's Prayer with him, interjecting with obscenities. During this terrifying ordeal, he walked over to 25-year-old bank employee James Isom and fatally shot him in the head. He then proceeded to a back office where he shot and killed Pijanowski. An assistant branch manager was also shot and wounded but survived.
As police, alerted by a silent alarm, converged on the scene, Griffin exited the bank. He took a 77-year-old customer, Stanley Hays, who was approaching the bank, as a hostage. As officers pleaded for the hostage's release, Griffin pushed the elderly man to the ground and fatally shot him in the head. In the ensuing moments, police opened fire on Griffin, killing him at the scene and bringing the violent episode to an end.
The aftermath of the shooting left a community in shock and searching for answers. The gunman, Allen Lane Griffin Jr., was a father of three with a criminal record who was reportedly despondent over a recent divorce and other personal issues. While his official motive remains a mystery, subsequent lawsuits filed by the victims' families introduced a controversial theory. Lawyers for the victims alleged that the massacre was not a random act of violence or a botched robbery, but rather the result of a personal dispute between Griffin and Pijanowski. It was claimed that the two were involved in a 'sex-for-cash' relationship that Pijanowski had recently tried to end, leading to threats from Griffin. However, this motive was never officially proven, as key witnesses reportedly recanted their statements. Because the perpetrator was killed at the scene, there were no arrests or a trial to bring further clarity to the tragic events of that day.
