Something was bothering Marcus Critten the night before he was killed.
“That Sunday night, it was like he just sat there, and he was thinking too hard,” said his girlfriend, Natasha Marshall. She kept asking him what was wrong, and each time he said, “Nothing.”
Within the walls of Ms. Marshall’s Glen Hazel apartment — where Mr. Critten managed to live despite being on an exclusion list — he was remembered as an engaging man who loved to take selfies with his 5-year-old daughter, and was trying to get an education.
Outside the walls, he was a guy police and others watched carefully.
Life in Glen Hazel
Mr. Critten, 22, was known around Glen Hazel. He lived for a while with his mother on Johnston Avenue, blocks from where he was shot and killed at about 11 a.m. on a rainy Monday. No arrests have been made in the case.
Pittsburgh police records show officers had been called to his mother’s house multiple times in the last year to respond to reports of someone in need of psychiatric help.
In September 2011, police arrested Mr. Critten on a simple assault charge. His sister, Paris Critten, told officers he twisted her arm, spit in her face and then hit her in the face with a TV remote following an argument. Mr. Critten told police, “It was an accident,” according to a criminal complaint.
After first being given the chance to complete anger management classes, Mr. Critten pleaded guilty to harassment and disorderly conduct as part of a plea deal. He was sentenced to three months of probation.
Neither Ms. Critten nor her mother responded to messages left at their house.
About a year after that case, in 2012, Mr. Critten was charged with aggravated assault in a case that was withdrawn. One year after that, he was charged with kidnapping, robbery and other crimes.
The charges against Mr. Critten were dismissed at a preliminary hearing. Court records do not indicate why.
Ms. Marshall said the 2½ months Mr. Critten spent in jail during that case were formative.
“He came home, and when I say he did a 360 on me, he did a 360 on me. Marcus came home a whole different person.”
She said he enrolled in school to learn to install carpet and expected to start classes this month. He began taking care of his mother, and he spent lots of time with his daughter. Ms. Marshall said she paid him to take care of her two sons. Her cell phone is full of photos of him with the children, or of him smiling as he lay on her sofa.
“He was a good guy,” she said. “Everybody has their flaws. Everybody has a record.”
Some parts of Marcus remained a mystery. “What goes on outside my house, that’s not my problem,” she said.
The fatal shooting
Mr. Critten slept in most mornings and then spent hours in the bathroom, showering and primping. It was rare that he left before noon.
On Oct. 13, he got up at 9 a.m. and was in the shower by 9:30 a.m.
A short while after Mr. Critten left the house, Ms. Marshall heard shots. She called Mr. Critten and he didn’t answer.
Still hoping he was at a friend’s house, not on the street, she grabbed her gun, ran outside and saw a black car flying past her.
“When I went around that corner and I seen [his shoes], my heart just instantly jumped,” Ms. Marshall said. She held Mr. Critten’s hand and could still feel his pulse.
“I’m holding his hand like, ‘Marcus, you’re gonna be all right.’...and he wasn’t.
“By the time the ambulance got there, he was gone,” Ms. Marshall said.
Liz Navratil: lnavratil@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1438 or on Twitter @LizNavratil. Rich Lord: rlord@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1542 or on Twitter @richelord.
First Published: January 25, 2015, 5:00 a.m.
