Candles illuminating porches and windows in a quiet Rosedale neighbourhood solemnly marked what would have been Oliver Martin’s 26th birthday on June 29.

At the request of his grieving family, dozens of neighbours near Roxborough Ave. and Yonge St. lit white candles in honour of the slain man, who along with his friend Dylan Ellis, was fatally shot while sitting in an SUV in downtown Toronto on June 13.

The Martin family distributed notes to homes in the immediate area, letting residents know they could pick up memorial candles on their porch for those who wished to help them mark Oliver’s birthday. Like many in the neighbourhood, Marly Kadak chose to light a candle and leave it outdoors for all to see. Calling the Martins a “warm and loving family”, she fondly remembered watching a young Oliver playing basketball in a back laneway.

She called the shooting “shockingly horrible.” Kadak added she hopes the incident “is not the beginning of an era where we become a mean, ugly city”. About a week before Oliver’s birthday, his mother Susan, along with Dylan’s mother Karen, made a public plea for information to bring their sons’ killer to justice.

Flanked by family members at Toronto Police headquarters, the women pleaded for anyone with information to come forward. Lead investigator Homicide Detective Gary Giroux has also appealed to the public, asking people with information contact him directly at 416-808-7387.

But with no suspect in custody as of late June, a motive remains a mystery. Police say neither Oliver nor Dylan had any criminal history, and don’t believe the pair knew their attacker. Both men were shot in the chest while seated in a parked black Range Rover around midnight, after spending the evening at a friend’s Richmond St. West condo. Oliver’s girlfriend, who was in the backseat of the SUV, was unharmed.