Deray Pearson, a 22-year-old Black man from Pittsburgh’s North Side, was fatally shot on June 14, 2009, in the 1500 block of Garfield Avenue near Jacksonia Street in the Mexican War Streets. Police reported that an altercation occurred about 2:30 p.m. with someone inside a blue or gray vehicle; the confrontation escalated and at least two shots were fired, striking Pearson in the back. He was taken to Allegheny General Hospital and later died of his injuries.

Witnesses described the attack as brazen and public, saying the vehicle did not speed away in panic and even stopped at a stop sign after the shooting. The killing was one of several homicides on that stretch of Garfield Avenue and Jacksonia Street between 2006 and 2009, a series residents said contributed to a climate of repeated violence in the neighborhood. Pearson’s family continued to mourn at a memorial years later; his mother, Crystal Pearson, publicly questioned how the person who took his life could remain free. No arrests or named suspects have been reported; police sought a better description of the vehicle and occupants after the shooting.

Did anyone in the neighborhood or who knew Deray see the vehicle or its occupants that afternoon?