Aunt of slain Joliet man says Facebook withholding funeral funds

JOLIET – The aunt of a Joliet man who was shot and killed said she is upset that Facebook has yet to release funds raised for his funeral.

Dolores Allen, aunt of 19-year-old Kaprice Griffin, who was killed on the South Side of Chicago, set up a fundraiser through Facebook for funerals costs, as there was “no insurance to bury him.” But Allen said she now is having trouble accessing the $8,744 raised for Griffin’s funeral.

The funeral is scheduled for Saturday.

On Tuesday, Allen was told by a Facebook payment support specialist that she couldn’t receive the funds on a debit card, only in a U.S. checking account, and the first partial deposit of the funds would start Sunday, according to messages obtained by The Herald-News.

Allen said her family needed the money sooner. The Facebook payment specialist said they are “investigating this issue further” and will give her an update “as soon as we have more information.”

Allen said she chose to raise the funds through Facebook because the funds could be accessed faster than through GoFundMe. But that appears to not be the case.

“We have to bury him. We need this money,” Allen said.

A message to Facebook’s media office was not returned Thursday afternoon.

Griffin was shot in the 10200 block of South Hoxie Avenue in the South Deering neighborhood in Chicago. He was sitting in a car with an 18-year-old man when an unknown man approached and opened fire, the Chicago Police Department said.

Griffin was shot in the head, and the other man was shot in the back. Both were taken to Advocate Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, and Griffin later died.

No one has been arrested in connection with the fatal gun attack.

Griffin’s mother, Latasha Allen, said her son was with a friend and told her he was going to Chicago but did not say why. She described him as an excellent father to his 4-year-old son, Ayden, and said the most trouble he ever got into was a traffic ticket.

“He never got in trouble,” Latasha Allen said. “He got along with everybody.”

According to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office, Griffin lived in the 800 block of Porter Street in Joliet. Latasha Allen said her son was a senior at Joliet Central High School.

Griffin “left behind his son, Ayden; mom, Latasha; father, Vashawnd; sister, T’Shyla; and brothers, Cortez, Tre’Shawn and David; and everyone that loved him!” according to the Facebook fundraiser page.