YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — The aunt of a man who was found shot to death in October on a South Side street said the family will never stop trying to find out who killed him.
“We are not going to stop until we find out what happened to my baby,” said Dinez Baker, the aunt of Aaron Rogers, 29, who was shot to death Oct. 7 at East Earle Avenue and Erie Street.
Thursday, Baker and a family friend, Brandy Hornbuckle, announced they are increasing a reward for information leading to the arrest of the people responsible for Rogers’ death from $10,000 to $25,000.
Rogers was found in the street at about 10:20 p.m. by officers who were called to the area for a gunshot sensor call for multiple rounds fired. A friend of Rogers was also wounded in the same shooting.
Baker said her nephew, who went by the nickname “Little Man,” went somewhere with a friend the evening he was killed.
“Our family is looking for answers,” she said during a media availability in the Roll Call Room at the city police department. “We don’t understand how anyone can leave him lying on the side of the road. My nephew deserves to rest peacefully.”
“He was smart,” Baker added of her nephew. “He was kind and nice.”
The family called Rogers Little Man because his father is nicknamed “Big Man.”
“We really want to know who can do this to my nephew,” Baker said. “We just want somebody to come out and say something.”
The family is worried the longer the case goes without an arrest, the harder it will be to arrest someone in the first place.
“I am afraid,” Baker said. “That’s why we are prepared to do what we have to do.”
An arrest will not bring complete closure but it can lead to some healing, Baker said.
“Some parts of our hearts will be able to rest,” she said.
Anyone with information on the murder of Aaron Rogers can call detectives at 330-742-8911 or CrimeStoppers Youngstown at 330-746-CLUE.
