Wilkinsburg man gets life in prison for killing father of former Pitt, NBA player

A Wilkinsburg man will spend the rest of his life in prison after being sentenced Friday for first-degree murder.

A jury in February found Dilon Bartifay, 34, guilty of killing Gregory Lamont Blair Sr., the father of former University of Pittsburgh basketball star DeJuan Blair.

He was sentenced by Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Beth A. Lazzara.

Gregory Blair, 46, of Wilkinsburg, was shot at the corner of Ross and Center streets in Wilkinsburg on Nov. 16, 2019. He died a short time later at UPMC Presbyterian.

Police said Bartifay was harassing Blair’s friend as she left his apartment that night and waited for a Lyft. Blair confronted him, and the two men began to argue, which was captured on video surveillance cameras in the area.

At trial, a neighbor testified that she saw Bartifay and Blair arguing and then saw flashes from a gun and heard two shots.

There also was testimony by an analyst for the Allegheny County crime lab who said they found gunshot residue on Bartifay’s right hand, and on the right sleeve and cuff of his sweatshirt.

In their victim-impact statements, Blair’s family members described him as a man who loved to cook, enjoyed spending time with his family and never missed a sporting event.

He missed the birth of his grandson, Greg III, in November, they said.

“He was my everything. The best father a kid can ask for,” said Greg Blair Jr. “I’m lost forever without my father.”

Dawn Blair, the victim’s cousin, described him as loving, protective and supportive.

“I struggle emotionally every day,” she said. “Some days my heart literally aches, and every day I wish things were different. I hope one day to forgive you for my own healing and sanity, but for now I can only pray.”