On the afternoon of December 15, 2022, a shooting on the 7900 block of South Broadway in the Patch neighborhood of St. Louis left 32-year-old Hispanic male Mario Martinez dead. Police were called shortly before 5:00 p.m. after reports of a disturbance that began in nearby St. Louis Square Park, where a man was seen brandishing a firearm and waving it at people.

The confrontation moved onto South Broadway, where the gunman fired and struck Martinez, who died at the scene. A 39-year-old bystander tried to intervene and wrestled with the shooter, suffering a blow to the eye with the firearm before the assailant fled into a nearby apartment building. Inside, a 19-year-old resident, fearing for his life, drew a weapon and shot the intruder, who later died of his wounds.

Authorities identified the person who shot Martinez as 23-year-old Robert Liska of Lemay. Because Liska died from wounds sustained inside the apartment, no arrests were made in connection with Martinez’s killing; investigators documented a timeline and witness accounts that corroborated the resident’s claim of self-defense. Did anyone witness the disturbance in St. Louis Square Park or the events on South Broadway that afternoon?