Family looking for answers after shooting, fire



MILWAUKEE -- Milwaukee police say 39-year-old Marlon Booker was shot multiple times before his body was found inside of a home that caught fire near 49th and Fairmount on Wednesday.

Police are now investigating Booker's death as a homicide -- and are looking for suspects, and Booker's family is looking for answers.

Police say two MPD officers on patrol smelled smoke in the area of 48th and Hampton and tracked it to a vacant home, where they found Booker's body. Roses now rest on the doorsteps of the northside home. The siding is singed by fire, and debris charred by flame, but the damage one mother and daughter feel is beyond description. "The family is just tore up. We just in so much pain," Booker's family said.

The two asked that their faces not be shown on camera. "He was a great dad. He called me every day. He came to see me every day," Booker's daughter said. Booker's daughter last saw him on Sunday. "When he became missing, and he did not call her or see her for two days, we knew something was wrong. I've been trying to stay strong for my daughter. It's been very hard for me, and it's been very hard for her," Booker's daughter's mom said.

Booker owned a rental property in the neighborhood, and he may have been interested in buying the vacant home where his body was found. Booker's family is certain the fire was intentionally set, but they remain unclear about what motivated the murder. "I don't know of him having any enemies or anything like that. We have no idea why it happened. We have no idea why he was missing. I hope police find who did this, and justice is served, and they pay for what they did and how they hurt our family," Booker's family said.

If you have information that could help police in this case, you're urged to call 414-935-7360.

The cause of the fire is unknown and remains under investigation by the Milwaukee Police Department arson detectives.