Man killed in Roxborough was a member of ‘Traveling Conmen’ fraud group and in country illegally, DHS says
Salis Hanrahan, 20, was a member of the U.K.-centric group that defrauds contracting customers, officials said.
A United Kingdom man who was shot and killed while doing contracting work in Roxborough last week was a member of the so-called “Traveling Conmen” criminal organization and was not authorized to be in the country, officials with the Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday.
The man, 20-year-old Salis Hanrahan, was killed on Wednesday when George Barr, 75, fatally shot him at his home, according to police. Hanrahan and a group of men were at Barr’s home on the 400 block of Ripka Street that afternoon to work on the property, officials said.
According to the FBI, the Traveling Conmen are a loosely affiliated group of men from the U.K. and Ireland known to overstay pleasure or tourist visas in the United States, where they travel between cities soliciting contracting work and defrauding property-owners.
Police received an emergency call around 2:20 p.m. and arrived to find Hanrahan collapsed on the sidewalk suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest. He was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital shortly after arriving.
On Friday, police announced that Barr had been charged with murder and related crimes. They gave no motive for the slaying.
A spokesperson for DHS said Hanrahan was not authorized to be in the country, though officials were unaware how long he had been here.
Hanrahan was previously denied an electronic travel authorization after officials determined he was a member of the Conmen Travelers, a U.K.-centric fraud group recognized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a transnational criminal organization, according to the spokesperson.
Members of the group have been accused of demanding large payments from customers that were not initially agreed upon and convincing homeowners that their properties are in need of costly and unnecessary repairs.
In 2025, a Rhode Island woman was goaded into paying members $850,000 for unnecessary repairs, leading two men to be federally charged with fraud and money laundering.
And members of the group allegedly threatened the children of a New York woman that year when they demanded a $200,000 loan after failing to complete a bricklaying job at her home.
Within days, the members began showing off expensive jewelry on social media — including a 10-carat diamond, according to a BBC news investigation.
Traveling Conmen often do not have authorized work permits and have been accused of leaving homes damaged or with incomplete work, according to the FBI.
It is unclear how Homeland Security came to conclude that Hanrahan is affiliated with the group.
Social media posts described him as a young father who shared an infant with his wife, Roseann.
”God look over [his] wife & family at this time," a mourner wrote last week.
