Local media has largely ignored the slow walk investigation into the Dec. 17 shooting of an Augusta County man by a sheriff’s deputy, but, man, give ‘em a local jewelry-store heist to write about for clicks, and cue the feeding frenzy.
And, sure, I get it – suspects reportedly cut into the back of a jewelry store just outside the Staunton city limits back on Nov. 30 and made off with $300,000 in shiny objects, that’s going to get the clicks.
It’s odd to me that something that happened six weeks ago is just now getting out there, but that could be a matter of convenience for the Augusta County Sheriff’s Office, which has kept things with the shooting death of Dustin Griffin, 42, who was shot in the back of the head as deputies served an arrest warrant, very much on the down low.
The sheriff’s office handed the investigation over to the Virginia State Police, which has been mum on where its review of the shooting stands, three weeks in.
ICYMI
- What’s the status of the investigation into the Dustin Griffin shooting death?
- The story of the man killed in Augusta County officer-involved shooting
Basically, the death of a guy with a lengthy rap sheet is being presented to us publicly as, meh, he probably deserved it.
Griffin was in and out of jail and prison on drug charges; we don’t know what the warrant for his arrest involved, but per family, he had been questioned by authorities in October in connection with a drug investigation, though he didn’t think he was the target.
Meanwhile, we have a jewelry heist with details that sound like a movie: the criminals set up a tarp behind the store, cut through the back of a wall to get to the valuables in a safe, took their time sorting through what they should abscond with.
I actually know the owner of the jewelry store – Augusta Free Press, in a previous iteration, made money on the side doing marketing and web-design work for local companies, and we worked with a hearing-aid company that she ran in both capacities.
Let’s just say, she’s from a different social strata than a guy who did hard time on drug convictions.
According to the latest media piece on the heist, she was on a plane for Egypt to start a dream vacation as the criminals were cutting their way into the safe at the back of her store on Nov. 30.
Dustin Griffin, meanwhile, was at his grandmother’s house the night of Dec. 17 when he took a bullet to the back of the head.
Neither deserved their fate.
Weighing out which one is the one that deserves your attention, I’m leaning toward the one that ended with a guy in a body bag, that the cops don’t seem to want to talk about.
Video: The jewelry store heist gets the clicks
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Chris Graham
