Teen killed after Zaxby's shift saved siblings 8 years ago during attack

NEWTON COUNTY, Ga. — Channel 2 Action News has learned that a 16-year-old gunned down after a shift at Zaxby's is the same young man who saved his two younger siblings nearly eight years ago as his mother and grandmother were stabbed to death.

Quinten Kevon Martin died Wednesday after gunmen opened fire on him and his manager as she dropped him off after work.

Earlier this week, Channel 2's Tom Jones spoke with Martin's father, Roddrick Foster, who said he believes the shooting was a case of mistaken identity. Police have yet to identify the suspects or a motive.

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"Y'all just took everything away from him at an early age. It was senseless," Foster said the day after losing his son.

Martin was an honor roll student at Alcovy High School. Foster said his son was working long shifts at Zaxby's to raise money to buy his first car and wanted to be a pilot someday. He would have turned 17 next month.

The teen had survived unthinkable tragedy to become the kind of young man nearly everyone we spoke to called a "good kid."

Channel 2 Action News first reported on Martin when he was just eight years old. Two days after Thanksgiving, on Nov. 28, 2010, Martin was at his home in Clarkson with his mother, grandmother and two siblings when a man attacked them.

The man stabbed Martin's mother, 24-year-old Dominique Martin, multiple times and then turned the knife on his grandmother, 44-year-old Ursula Peterson.

On Saturday night, Jones reached out to Foster, who confirmed that Martin hid his 3-month-old sister and 6-year-old brother in a closet as his mother and grandmother were stabbed. He then called 911 and held his mother in his arms as she died. Peterson later died at the hospital.

Martin was later able to identify the suspect to police as a mentally ill neighbor, his father said. Stephan Bailey was charged with murder.

Recently, Martin told his father he wanted to get a tattoo, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported.

“Normally I wouldn’t approve of that,” Foster said. “But this was special.”

The tattoo, inked on his chest, depicts his mother, adorned with angel’s wings.

“He said he wanted to keep her close to him forever,” Foster said.

Now, Martin's dad also has a keepsake he will keep with him forever: his son's championship football ring.

"I'm going to wear it now since he's gone," Foster said, showing Jones the ring and his son's football trophies.

Martin will be buried alongside his mother and grandmother.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution contributed to this report. 

Cox Media Group