Left inset: Kevin Griffin (Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office). Center inset: Terrance Wilder (The New Pitts Mortuary). Right inset: A'nya Raymond (GoFundMe). Background: The Milwaukee residence where landlord Kevin Griffin allegedly murdered Terrance Wilder before killing A'nya Raymond after she witnessed the slaying (WISN).
A Wisconsin landlord who was trying to evict a tenant ended up shooting him dead, claiming he "lost it" after allegedly seeing the victim in the middle of a drug deal, according to cops. The landlord then took a mother who was at the tenant's home with a child hostage — and killed her too after she witnessed the first shooting, police say.
"I was like f— it. I shot her too," said Kevin Griffin, 54, of Milwaukee, during an interview with investigators, according to a criminal complaint obtained by Law&Crime.
Griffin allegedly said that A'nya Raymond, the mom who was killed, "was just in the wrong place at the wrong time" when he murdered his tenant, Terrance Wilder, on Nov. 4 at the residence he was renting out to him. Griffin explained that he had been trying to evict Wilder and there had been problems with his "paperwork," which was delaying the process, according to the complaint.
"Griffin said they were arguing about [Wilder] leaving the backdoors of the residence open and he/Griffin had gone up to confront [Wilder] about this," the complaint alleges.
"Griffin said [Wilder] was 'in the middle of a drug deal and he (Griffin) just lost it,'" the document adds, quoting Griffin. "I mean I should have thought rationally but I just went off in anger, man, and just lost it," Griffin also said, according to the document.
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After killing Wilder, Griffin told police that he saw Raymond in the residence with her son and he ordered them to go get in his Mercedes outside, authorities said. "[Raymond] told Griffin that she had nothing to do … with any of this and she told him that 'she was not going to say anything' but Griffin did not believe her," the complaint says.
Raymond allegedly pleaded with Griffin as he ordered the mother and her child into his car, telling him she could "go somewhere and kick it" and keep quiet. Griffin didn't care and left with Raymond and her child in the Mercedes, cops say.
"While they were driving … [Raymond] reached into her purse and pulled out a knife and mace," according to the complaint. "I hit her and then I was like f— it," Griffin allegedly recalled telling the mother before shooting her eight times, with her child in the backseat watching the slaying unfold.
Griffin admitted to dumping Raymond's body in an alley near the residence, according to the complaint, and then allegedly "ditched" his firearm near some train tracks by a school. Griffin said that he took Raymond's son back to his house and put him in her car before driving it to a separate location.
"He left the child and told the child to wait there for his mother to come get him," the complaint says. Raymond's son was later found "wandering with apparent blood on his clothes and shoeless," the complaint adds.
Police received a report about the Wilder shooting on Nov. 5 and responded to the residence at 4824 North 42nd Street in Milwaukee. Raymond's body was discovered in the nearby alley; Wilder was found inside the home days later on Nov. 9 "on his bed, lying face up," according to the complaint, during the execution of a search warrant.
Since Griffin was the landlord, he was questioned about what happened and allegedly admitted to being "the person who shot and killed both" individuals.
"It's been my nightmare," said Wilder's mother, Demertha Wilder, in an interview with local ABC affiliate WISN. "My hell," she said.
Raymond's mother, Renay Raymond, describes her death in a GoFundMe description as "the worst news any parent could get" — saying, "My daughter was found shot dead and left in an alley. My heart and head is so heavy with grief."
Griffin was arrested and charged with first-degree intentional homicide by use of a dangerous weapon, first-degree reckless homicide by use of a dangerous weapon, and felon in possession of a firearm.
City records obtained by WISN show that Wilder complained to the Milwaukee Department of Neighborhood Services about the apartment he was renting from Griffin in August after not having hot water for two months. An inspector reportedly ordered Griffin to fix a number of leaky faucets, a clogged drain and a back door. He was also allegedly asked to install a railing, according to WISN, but records show that none of the problems were ever fixed.
"Do you believe this was retaliation for that?" a WISN reporter asked Wilder's mother, to which she replied, "Yes, I do."
Griffin is currently being held on a $500,000 bond. He has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Nov. 26.