The mother and sister of a 29-year-old man who was shot to death in front of his family in 2018 are working to prompt eyewitnesses to come forward and share information that could lead to an arrest in a case that’s gone unsolved.
Nequan Martin, his fiance and his 6-year-old stepson were going about their morning routine on May 29, 2018. The three had eaten breakfast, gotten ready for the day and were walking to their car in the parking lot of the Bradley Square Apartments on Rivers Avenue around 6 a.m., when an unidentified man shot Martin multiple times.
Martin was still breathing and had a pulse when officers arrived on the scene minutes later. They applied a tourniquet to his left arm to stop bleeding from one of the gunshots. He later died at a hospital.
The shooter was described as a 5-foot-8 inch to 6-foot tall Black man in his mid-20s to early 30s who had shoulder-length dreadlocks and wore a reflective vest along with whitewashed gray jeans. No formal suspects have ever been identified, Lt. Fred Hoose said during a Feb. 22 press conference with Martin’s sister and mother.
Several eyewitnesses have not come forward, Hoose said.
Though his sister, Shalanda Martin, and his mother, Undrea Shepard, at first ran away from what happened, they’re now calling for answers.
We are seeking some type of closure and to set fire once again to the case in hopes that somebody, anybody, that may have seen, heard or know of the case or who may be the gunman behind it, to just come forward and help us out, Shalanda Martin said.
During their last conversation, she remembered him saying I want better for my life, and I’m going to go get it. He had been working at a local restaurant while studying to be an electrician and to get his real estate license at the time of his death, Hoose said.
Shalanda Martin wants better for her brother in his death, too. About a month ago she started noticing his name more frequently, and a sense of calm she had turned into anger — she decided she wanted to fight to find the person who took his life.
If witnesses don’t want to come forward only to provide her family with closure, they should come forward to prevent that person from potentially victimizing other people, Shalanda Martin said.
It’s my family today but it could be your family tomorrow, she said.
