On Thanksgiving Day, November 24, 2016, 26-year-old Jonathan Diaz was fatally shot in Armory Square, Syracuse, in the early morning hours. A graduate of Onondaga Central High School, Diaz was remembered by his family as having a big heart and ambitions for the future.

Syracuse Police identified and arrested 28-year-old Army veteran Geronte Urycki in connection with the shooting. Investigators said the encounter was not random but tied to pre-existing tensions linked to a past relationship between Diaz and Urycki’s wife. Urycki was charged with second-degree murder; he claimed he acted in self-defense, saying Diaz had been the aggressor.

At trial the prosecution emphasized the ongoing animosity between the men. In June 2017 a jury acquitted Urycki of murder but convicted him of second-degree manslaughter; the court sentenced him to three to nine years in state prison. If anyone knew Jonathan Diaz or has information about the events that night, please come forward.