1 Year On, Witnesses Have Yet To Come Forward In Peacemaker's Murder
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Minneapolis Police are looking for help in solving a year-old homicide.
Steven Martin, 37, was shot and killed while trying to break up a fight.
Police say the father of seven was trying to be a peacemaker, but his life was taken instead.
This case has been frustrating for investigators and truly painful for Martin's family, mainly because there were so many witnesses to his murder and no one has given police information that could lead them to a killer.
"I still get people coming up to me now saying, 'You don't know me but I knew you son and he was a good person,'" Mary Henry, Martin's mother, said.
Henry says her son loved to help others.
"Steven always been a peacemaker," she said. "I always told him, 'Please stop trying to always save everybody because you can't.'"
Henry says her son got off work a year ago Tuesday, and went down the street to play cards with friends.
That is when police say an argument between two groups of people at that card party turned violent.
"Based on all the available witness accounts, you got two groups of people fighting and Mr. Martin was doing what he could to break up the fight," Minneapolis Police Commander Catherine Johnson said.
Investigators say the peacemaker was the only one shot and killed that night.
A memorial stands where Martin took his last breath, with messages left behind are from people who knew and loved him -- but no one has given up information that could lead police to a killer.
"You have people on both sides of that fight who either haven't talked to us yet or we haven't been able to identify them as part of the group yet," Johnson said.
Henry says it has all been a "continuous heartbreak."
"I don't know how much my heart can take, it's just so painful to be without him," she said.
She says that one bullet "stopped" her entire family in their tracks. His seven children, wife, mother and two sisters hope someone remembers all that Martin did for others and do what is right and help investigators catch his killer.
"There was so many people out there, somebody knows something," Henry said. "For Steven's children, they need closure, we need closure, we cannot start to heal."
Anyone with information is urged to call 991 or CrimeStoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS. Callers can remain anonymous.