BUFFALO, N.Y. — Joel Northrup was 27 years old when he was killed on the basketball court in Delaware Park in August of 2021.
The father of two was awaiting the birth of his third son. The child was born the following year on his birthday. Joel never got to meet the baby.
Northrup was shot multiple times, including a shot in the head.
It happened on a hot summer day. Police say there were many people at the scene. Some say close to 100 people were around.
The day before there was a fight on the court and screen shots of Joel wearing red, show he was just there and not a participant.
Tatiana Goldsmith was Joel's longtime partner/girlfriend and mother of his children.
She is frustrated by the lack of information, but she also wants to see improvements at the park to make sure people are safe.
"We can't even see into the park from the bushes, they need to be cut on Parkside," she said.
Buffalo police commissioner Joseph Gramaglia responded to the crime scene.
"There was a substantial amount of people, as there typically would be on a very nice summer day or summer evening. We have gotten no cooperation. It is very frustrating. We know people that were there. We know people that were there at the time of the shooting, and yet still nobody will come forward. No one will talk to us," the commissioner said.
Goldsmith said: "This is the thing I feel so strongly about when it comes to the snitching thing, that applies to people that live that lifestyle. Joel did not live that lifestyle. He wasn't in the streets. He had a normal job. "
Now three boys will grow up without a father. His life partner mourns the man she hoped to marry. Crime Stoppers WNY is offering a $7,500 reward for information leading to an arrest.
"This is not somebody who passed away in the back of an alley that nobody seen. There is a family suffering in silence not knowing what happened," his girlfriend said.
