Steven Hernandez, 33, was found with apparent gunshot wounds on the 300 block of Water Street in Lawrence, Massachusetts, after police responded to reports of gunfire at about 7 a.m. on Saturday, September 14, 2024. Emergency medical technicians treated him at the scene before he was taken to Lawrence General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Friends and relatives described Hernandez as a sweet, nice guy known for generosity. He had been involved in organizing a tent encampment in a wooded area behind Water and Holt streets, where he was living. The Lawrence Police Department and Massachusetts State Police detectives assigned to the Essex County District Attorney’s Office investigated the shooting.

A suspect, 33-year-old Thomas A. Pizarro of Methuen, was arrested in Boston by the Massachusetts State Police Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section and charged with Hernandez’s murder. At arraignment in Lawrence District Court Pizarro pleaded not guilty and was ordered held without bail; the Essex County District Attorney’s Office is prosecuting the case.

Did anyone in the Lawrence area know Hernandez, his work with the encampment, or see activity on Water or Holt streets around that morning?