New Bedford shooting victim recalled
Friends say man died a hero
NEW BEDFORD - In the neighborhood that John K. Martin called home, friends yesterday were mourning the loss of a man they think died doing what he did best - helping others.
Martin was shot in the head Saturday night as he tried to disarm a robber in one of Martin’s regular haunts, the Petro Mart convenience store on Coggeshall Street.
“He died a hero and I want people to know who he was,’’ said Nikki Costa, a 23-year-old Dunkin’ Donuts employee who befriended Martin over his regular visits to the shop. “He died so senselessly.’’
Martin died Sunday night at the Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, a day after he was shot and critically injured. As the shooter demanded cash and raised his gun, Martin stepped forward and tried to grab it, said Mike Khalife, manager of the Petro Mart.
He missed, knocking over a box of candy instead. The shooter turned and shot Martin in the head.
The gunman fired a second shot toward the clerk but missed, hitting the store’s lottery machine. He fled the store without taking any money.
Photographs released by authorities show the shooter, a light-skinned Hispanic male who appears to be in his late teens or early 20s, brandishing a black handgun. He wore a gray sweatshirt with the hood pulled over his head, but with some of his face exposed. Authorities said he is between 5 feet 11 inches and 6 feet 2 inches tall, with a pronounced nose and thin moustache.
“It was just a coincidence; it shouldn’t have happened,’’ Khalife said. “The problem is that it’s just like John to do something like this. He just helps everybody.’’
He was in the store every day, often for hours at a time, and became good friends with the staff.
“You’d be here, just like today, and he’d just be here shooting the breeze with us,’’ said clerk Mike Tavares, 31.
Martin was not in touch with his family, so employees at local stores, including Petro Mart, Dunkin’ Donuts, and McDonalds, where Martin was once an employee, plan to arrange his funeral. “We’re going to give him a proper burial,’’ Khalife said.
Khalife, who was not working Saturday night, said his store has been robbed before. He has four security cameras inside and, just in case, keeps a metal baseball bat behind the counter. In the event of a robbery, Khalife instructs his employees to open the register and hand over the contents of the cash drawer.
“It’s just part of the business,’’ he said.
Martin lived less than a block from Petro Mart, on Mitchell Street. Khalife said his roommate was an older man, who did not answer the door yesterday. Martin assisted the roommate by running errands and cooking meals.
Yesterday, authorities released enhanced images from the store’s surveillance cameras of two witnesses who were in or near the store when the killing took place, said Gregg Miliote, spokesman for Bristol District Attorney C. Samuel Sutter. He said investigators hope the witnesses can be identified and interviewed.
Anyone with information is asked to contact New Bedford police at 508-991-6300, make an anonymous call to 508-99-CRIME, or call Sutter’s office at 508-997-0711.
Down Coggeshall Street at Dunkin’ Donuts, assistant manager Tracy Arruda said the 32-year-old Martin was in the shop nearly every day.
“He’d do anything for anyone. You needed cigarettes, he’d get you cigarettes, you needed food, he’d pick that up,’’ she said. “People maybe thought he was trying to be a hero, but he was just being John. He would be the person to grab the gun so that nobody would get hurt.’’
Matt Collette can be reached at mpcollette@globe.com. 
