Marcus Tafari Samuel Downer, 23, was shot and killed on Sunday, July 26, 2015, around 7:43 p.m. in the 5500 block of Rubin Avenue in Baltimore, a short distance from his grandmother’s home. A Baltimore School for the Arts graduate who hoped to become an actor, Downer suffered multiple gunshot wounds described by family as a barrage of bullets.

His mother, Cynthia Bruce, remembers him as kind and has become an advocate for stricter gun laws after his death.