Matthew Groves was 26 years old, riding his skateboard through west Phoenix in the early hours of July 21, 2018, when he stopped to rest on the patio of the Purple Turtle Bar & Grill near 51st Avenue and Indian School Road. Within minutes, he was shot dead after a brief physical struggle with an unknown man. Eight years later, no one has been convicted, and his family is still fighting to change that.
Groves’ mother, Katherine Kirkconnell-Evans, still remembers getting the call that her son had been shot. She told ABC15 Arizona that Matthew was a big-hearted person who loved music and being with people, and who befriended people living on the streets. He had come to Arizona for school and was living with different family members at the time he was killed.
According to Silent Witness, Groves was found shot around 4 a.m. that Saturday outside 5100 W. Indian School Road. Surveillance footage reviewed by Phoenix police captured Groves riding his skateboard before going off camera, followed shortly by a man on a bicycle who reappeared riding in the opposite direction carrying Groves’ stolen backpack, according to KTAR News. Police initially investigated the shooting as a robbery after the backpack was taken.
An Arrest, Then a Dismissal
A friend helped track down the suspect, and police made an arrest in the case in 2019. But the case was dismissed after the arrest, and the suspect was released. Per police, the man admitted to stealing the backpack but denied shooting Groves. ABC15 is not naming him because he is not currently charged in the case, and police have connected no one else to the murder…