Austin police need help piecing together 6th Street homicide

Austin police are asking for the public's help to identify a man they believe beat another man leading to his death.

The attack took place on 6th Street around 2:00 Sunday morning. 

Homicide detectives said 33-year-old Marques Johnson was celebrating a friend's birthday on 6th Street last weekend, but the celebration turned violent when Johnson left Barcelona and started walking towards San Jacinto. That's when he got into a fight with another man.

“At this point, we don't really know all the details of why the altercation occurred. That's what we're trying to find out,” said Sgt. Tracy Gerrish with the Austin Police Department Homicide Unit. 

The air force veteran from San Antonio was unconscious when police arrived.
               
The end of the fight was caught on APD surveillance cameras set up in the 6th Street area.

“We actually see our victim laying, basically, in the middle of 6th Street, a crowd coming around him and then the officers coming up on the scene,” Gerrish said. 

Johnson was transported by ambulance to the hospital where he later died.

Police said they know that people were recording the fight. In fact, surveillance cameras captured people filming it on their cellphones and police hope one of those videos will help them make an arrest.

“We would like anybody that has video of that particular incident early Sunday morning to please get in contact with the homicide unit or with the public information office here. There could possibly be a Crime Stoppers reward in it for you,” said Gerrish.

Police said the suspect has been described as an African American man, about 25 years old, with short curly black hair and a goatee. He is between 5'10" and 6’ tall with blue or green eyes.

“Most of our witnesses are from San Antonio, so the reason we're not putting any video out at this time is we want to have an opportunity to show some of this video to those witnesses to see if they can't pick out a specific person that might be of interest to us,” Gerrish said. 

The APD Homicide Unit has contacted bars and restaurants in the 6th Street area to gather additional video evidence.

According to APD's crime statistics, assaults on 6th Street are fairly common. From August 1- September 17 the department reported 26 assaults that led to injuries.