Family Troubles Blamed For Shooting Spree

DETROIT - The man accused of killing three people at a bank and ordering everyone else to sing the Lord's Prayer with him was upset by family problems and wanted by the police, relatives said.

"He was very suicidal. He didn't want to kill himself. He wanted somebody else to do it for him," Bonita Griffin, an aunt of Allen Lane Griffin Jr., told the Detroit Free Press.

Police killed the gunman outside the Comerica bank yesterday morning after he grabbed an elderly customer, threw him to the ground and killed him with a shot to the head.

Two other employees also were shot to death. One employee was wounded and in fair condition. A jogger shot in the face was in serious condition.

Bonita Griffin and other family members told The Detroit News that Griffin, 21, received a phone call and suddenly left the house. She said she believes the call was from her nephew's estranged wife.

Family members said the breakup of his marriage and a child-custody dispute came about the same time his grandmother died. Police wanted him for violating probation from a drug conviction.

Police speculated that Griffin may have been influenced by televised images of a botched bank heist and shootout in California on Feb. 28.

Police Chief Isaiah McKinnon said Griffin walked into the bank, announced a holdup, then shot assistant manager Lisa Griffin, 38, no relation to the gunman.

Griffin then shot and killed manager Stanley Pijanowski III, 52, and James Isom, a 25-year-old sales representative, police said.

Police said Griffin made about 10 people in the bank say the Lord's Prayer while they lay on the floor.

Police tipped by an alarm arrived while Griffin was inside, McKinnon said. After the older man - identified by the newspapers as Stanley Hays, 77 - was killed, police shot the gunman five or six times.