EAST HARTFORD -- As the East Hartford Police Department continues to investigate the November murder of 30-year-old Dominic Marino, his family is reaching out to the community for answers.
On November 19, Marino was asleep when someone broke into his East Hartford home and shot him to death. The East Hartford Police Department began investigating the incident as a homicide, calling it an isolated incident in a relatively safe neighborhood, where there have only been two burglaries in the last two years.
"The door was kicked in and damaged," said Mark Marino, Dominic's father.
The elder Marino owned the home and passed it down to his two sons.
“It’s just a pure rage that I have at this point in my life," said the elder Marino. “The sorrow will probably never go away.”
Dominic was a disabled veteran who spent his recent years volunteering at soup kitchens and at Newington Veterans Hospital.
“He decided at the age of 12 years old he was gonna serve our country," said the elder Marino, who proudly displays his son's portrait and military flag in his Hamden home. “He used what skills he had and volunteered."
Marino said his son's memory pushes him forward, desperate for answers. He believes someone knows something, because his son's dog would have been barking that night when someone broke in. Between the gunshot and a barking dog, he said he thinks a neighbor must have heard the disturbance.
"This is not an area to get any crime," said Yarlin Garcia, who visits family in the house next door to the one Marino's sons were living in. “That is not likely to happen in this area at all.”
The street is considered safe and quiet by many.
"My whole family is suffering," he said. “The police are obviously outmanned and need your help, need the public’s help to try to solve my son’s case.”
If you have any information, you can contact the East Hartford Police Department.