On a Wednesday afternoon in November 2020, Anthony Martinez, a 37-year-old man from Bridgeport, Connecticut, was fatally shot. The incident that led to his death began when he was giving a relative a ride, a simple act of kindness that ended in tragedy on Burritt Avenue in Stratford. First responders were alerted to the violence not from the scene of the crime, but from Bridgeport Hospital, where Martinez had been taken after sustaining a gunshot wound.
It was at the hospital that police
began to piece together the events of that day. Witnesses informed investigators that the shooting had occurred at a residence at 402 Burritt Avenue. Officers were dispatched to the Stratford home, where they spent hours collecting evidence. In the immediate aftermath, Stratford police announced that they were speaking with persons of interest in the case, but no arrests were made. His death was recorded as the second homicide in Stratford for that year.
Known affectionately as "Big A," Martinez was a husband and father who, together with his wife, had opened the Hot Spot Barber Shop in Bridgeport three years prior. His death left a void in his community, with friends and family mourning the loss of a man they described as a soul mate and a king of hearts. Despite the initial interviews with persons of interest, the investigation into the shooting of Anthony Martinez has not led to any arrests, and the case has since grown cold, leaving his family searching for answers and justice.
