The death of Anthony Griffin and how he changed a city
CBC News | Posted: November 12, 2017 7:00 PM | Last Updated: November 13, 2017
Unarmed black teen was shot dead outside an NDG police station Nov. 11, 1987
This week, for the 30th anniversary of Anthony Griffin's death, CBC Montreal launched His name was Anthony: the life and death of Anthony Griffin and how he changed a city.
Griffin, a 19-year-old black man, was shot and killed by a Montreal police officer on Nov. 11, 1987. He had been trying to run from Const. Allan Gosset, but stopped and turned around when Gosset told him to do. Gosset has always maintained his gun, pointed at Griffin, fired accidentally.
He was acquitted two separate times of manslaughter. After the first trial, his mother, Gloria Augustus broke down outside the courthouse. Griffin was her only child.
"Bitter, angry, whatever word you can fit in that category, I am," she said.
The series explores how the fatal police shooting galvanized Montreal's black community, led to changes in policing in multiethnic communities and tries to determine whether those changes have endured.
It features interviews and stories researched and produced by CBC journalists Cassandra Leader, Dionne Codrington and Antoni Nerestant.
Anthony's death, and what followed
The story of Anthony's death and what was to come played out over the days and months following his death. This timeline maps out some of the important moments in that story.
In this video, we meet some of the main characters in this story.
30 years on, Anthony's friends still struggle
David Perrotte attended Chomedey High School with Griffin in Laval. To this day, he keeps newspaper clippings about Griffin's death in his kitchen.
"When you're friends with someone, it's kind of different to know that you know this person who they are talking about on TV," he said.
A loss of innocence, a generation of activists
When she heard about the shooting, Pat Dillon was worried the man who died was someone she knew.
It turns out that she didn't know the victim, but Griffin's death still had an impact on her.
An uprising followed, but there's a long way to go
Many black Montrealers who marched in the street to protest against Griffin's death 30 years ago point to that event as a major catalyst for change.
But many say there is still a long way to go — especially when it comes to police efforts.
Montreal police weigh in on changes
Insp. André Durocher was on CBC Montreal's Daybreak to provide the Montreal police's perspective on what has changed since Griffin's death.
You can listen to the interview here: