Killing of Jack Fitzpatrick (Santa Line Slaying)

On December 21, 1971, a confrontation broke out in a line of people waiting to see Santa Claus at a Higbee's department store on Cleveland, Ohio's Public Square. Twenty-one-year-old Tyrone Howard, his pregnant wife, and their three sons — including two-year-old Terrence Howard, later an actor — were in line, along with 36-year-old Jack Fitzpatrick, who was there with three of his children. Some in the line, including Fitzpatrick, accused the Howards of cutting in. An argument followed between Fitzpatrick and Howard. Accounts agree that Fitzpatrick grabbed Howard and pinned him against a wall, kneeing him in the groin, which reopened a prior work injury. Howard then used a sharp object to stab Fitzpatrick multiple times in the thighs and neck. Fitzpatrick collapsed and was taken to a hospital, where he died of his wounds. Howard fled to his mother's home and turned himself in to police hours later.

The incident drew significant local and national press attention, with Cleveland papers dubbing it the "Santa Line Slaying." Because Fitzpatrick was white and Howard was Black, local coverage characterized the altercation as racially motivated, and some witnesses said Fitzpatrick used racial slurs. Cleveland's then-mayor, Ralph Perk, publicly denounced Howard as a murderer, and the Episcopal bishop of Ohio compared the killing to the biblical Massacre of the Innocents.

Howard was charged with second-degree murder and pleaded self-defense. At trial, his wife denied that Fitzpatrick used racial slurs but testified he said, "Doing things like this has set your race back five years." Fitzpatrick's widow, Mary Fitzpatrick, testified that a security guard had separated the two men before Howard pulled a knife and lunged at Fitzpatrick. Howard and other witnesses testified that an unidentified woman handed him a nail file while he was pinned against the wall, which he used to stab Fitzpatrick; the nail file was never recovered and the woman never came forward. The jury foreman, Jack Petro, stated that race was not discussed as a factor during deliberations. After lengthy deliberation, Howard was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to one-to-25 years in prison. He was paroled after 11 months for good behavior and had no prior criminal record. He and his wife divorced shortly after his release.

The case resurfaced in 2005 when Terrence Howard, promoting the film "Crash," discussed his father's involvement on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," describing the incident as racially motivated and offering an account of the confrontation. Tyrone Howard subsequently disputed his son's version in an interview with The Plain Dealer, saying the altercation was not racially motivated and that "it was two men standing there, both of us acting like damn fools." Jack Fitzpatrick's daughter, Peggy, who was nine at the time, also disputed elements of Terrence Howard's account, including her father's height, and described her father as a seminarian not prone to violence.