EAST LANSING, Mich. — It's been four years, to the day since Michael Smith was shot to death in a parking garage in East Lansing, and that crime is still unsolved.
Four long years later, Michael's family is still searching for answers.
"For what reason? We have no idea what reason. That's what makes it so hard," Michael's mother, Beverly Smith said.
Beverly Smith takes off work every February 6th, the anniversary of the day two men shot and killed her son. She hasn't celebrated Christmas or Thanksgiving since Michael died.
"That was an awful night for me. And every day after that has been terrible. It's been awful," she said.
The shooting happened at a parking garage on Grove Street. The family said that each year passing by without answers is like torture.
"You know, you're going through different milestones in life and everything's going good and you're like, 'Oh wait. Something's missing.' And it hits you all over again," Michael's sister Andrea said.
Michael was funny, goofy even, his family says. They said he was always there for anyone who needed him. He was a loving father. He liked basketball, and especially music, and wanted to be a rapper. He was 22.
"I always think that it's unfair. And not that I would want this to happen to anybody else or anything like that. I do get in my selfish ways and say this was unfair. It shouldn't have happened to him because he was a great person," Andrea Smith said.
The family lives each day hoping someone will come forward with information about his death, or the men seen in these security photos taken from 7/11. Police haven't been able to identify them. Back in 2015, police say two men were seen driving away from the scene in a red, four-door sedan. The family told FOX 47 News they won't stop until justice is served.
"I'm now Michael's voice and I'm not going to give up trying to find out who this man is that murdered my son. Never going to give up," Beverly Smith said.
Smith's cousin was injured in the shooting. There is a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
Contact the East Lansing Police Department if you have any information at (517) 351-4220.
