On a tragic Friday afternoon, June 24, 2022, the life of Ramir R. Martin, a 22-year-old Black male, was cut short in Syracuse, New York. A graduate of Henninger High School and a former employee at Lowe's, he was a lifelong resident of the city. The violent incident unfolded around 1:45 p.m. when Syracuse Police responded to reports of a shooting on Midland Avenue. Upon their arrival, they discovered a car that had crashed into a tree.
Inside the vehicle, they found Martin unconscious, having been shot multiple times.
Emergency services rushed him to Upstate University Hospital, but his injuries proved to be fatal. At the scene, officers also located another individual, Radamaz Stackhouse, who had sustained a non-life-threatening gunshot wound to his leg. The Syracuse Police Department's Criminal Investigation Division immediately launched a homicide investigation, dedicating extensive resources to solving the case. Detectives spent months conducting numerous interviews, canvassing the neighborhood for witnesses, collecting physical evidence, and executing search warrants in their pursuit of justice for Martin.
The thorough and persistent investigation eventually led to a significant breakthrough. Detectives identified 20-year-old Dametrius Pettiford, a resident of Syracuse, as the primary suspect in the fatal shooting. On February 7, 2023, nearly eight months after the incident, Syracuse Police Homicide Detectives located and arrested Pettiford at a residence on West Ostrander Avenue. He was taken into custody without incident and subsequently charged with Murder in the Second Degree and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree. Following his arrest, Pettiford was lodged at the Justice Center as the legal proceedings against him commenced.
