A Tuesday evening in March 2015 brought gunfire to the Homewood neighborhood of Pittsburgh. At about 7:16 p.m., emergency services were sent to North Lang Avenue and Upland Street after 23-year-old John Scaine, a Black man from nearby Braddock, was found critically wounded outdoors. He was taken to UPMC Presbyterian Hospital and pronounced dead at 7:52 p.m.

The Allegheny County Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide after an autopsy found multiple gunshot wounds to Scaine’s head, neck, and extremities. The Pittsburgh Police Department opened an investigation, but by late 2015 no suspects had been publicly identified and no arrests announced. The case later went cold, leaving his family and community without answers.