From left: Charles County Sheriff’s Office Investigator John Elliott, Sheriff Troy Berry and FBI Public Affairs Specialist Dave Fitz brief officers before they hit the streets in La Plata Friday, June 3, seeking information about the 2012 murder of Martin Hawkins.
La Plata, MD – No one knows why Martin Hawkins, 32 of Washington, D.C., was gunned down on Kent Avenue in La Plata in front of the Social Services building April 18, 2012.
Investigators still maintain someone saw something.
After four years without a suspect, the Charles County Sheriff’s Office, along with the Charles County Crime Solvers and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), is upping the ante in the unsolved case.
On Friday, June 3, Sheriff Troy Berry, along with approximately a dozen deputies and investigators, accompanied by at least four FBI agents, set out after a drenching downpour to announce to residents in the town that there is now a $20,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in this case.
“All crime is significant, but the crime of murder is the ultimate crime we have to investigate and attempt to bring to closure,” Berry told the assemblage of officers before they hit the street.
“We appreciate our partnership with the FBI and we also have contributions from the Sheriff’s Office for those additional funds up to $10,000,” he added. “We know that money can be a motivator. We hope and pray as you go out and pass this information out, people will begin to get better recollections about this incident and we can get some additional information.”
“We’ve got five or six agents coming down to walk the streets with you side by side,” FBI Public Affairs Specialist Dave Fitz said. “We work in collaboration with our local partners. We’re all in the same boat. We want to bring some closure to the Hawkins family. We hope this will help.”
“He came up in the hood,” said the victim’s mother about her son, who grew up in Washington, D.C. “He was a loving, kind person.”
Martin Hawkins was visiting his mother in La Plata the day he was shot.
“He was a very outspoken man,” she admitted. “I taught him that. I told him to always stand up for himself. He didn’t owe anyone money. He didn’t sell drugs.”
She told Det. John Elliott, the lead investigator assigned to the case, that she was thankful they had not forgotten about her son’s murderer.
“I appreciate what you all are doing,” she said.
Contact Joseph Norris at joe.norris@thebaynet.com
Previous Stories