In the early hours of a Sunday morning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the life of Marcus Perkins, a 31-year-old African-American male, was tragically cut short. On October 14, 2012, shortly after midnight, police were called to a condominium on Heather Avenue where they discovered Perkins had been shot to death. The initial assessment by law enforcement suggested the incident was an attempted robbery.
However, neighbors in the quiet residential area quickly voiced their doubts, believing the act was not random and that Perkins must have been specifically targeted. Their suspicions were later validated when police announced that there were strong indications the crime was not a random act.
Perkins, who had moved into the neighborhood with his young family in the spring of 2011, was described by those who knew him as a nice person. His death was not the first tragedy to strike his family; just three years prior, in 2009, Perkins had experienced the loss of his own son, Jalen. In the wake of his murder, a memorial fund was established to support his family.
Years after his death, the case remained unsolved, and the person responsible for the home invasion and shooting had not been identified or apprehended. His family continued to hold vigils to honor his memory and to keep his case from going cold. They expressed their ongoing fight for justice and their hope that by speaking out, they could prevent similar acts of gun violence from affecting other families. As of October 2017, five years after his death, no arrests had been made in connection with the murder of Marcus Perkins.
