SALT LAKE CITY — When a man was shot and killed in Liberty Park on Sunday, he was identified publicly only as homeless.
On Wednesday, his friends gathered in the park to say he had a name, a talent and people who loved him.
They knew him as Marcus, or by the name he used around Liberty Park: Kratos.
Caitlin Melinda Dart arrived at the park without knowing the celebration of life was for her friend.
“I’m a little in shock,” Dart said. “I’m not entirely sure how to process the information. I at least have stopped shaking for the most part.”
Dart met Kratos last year while she was living in Liberty Park. She remembered him as someone who accepted her without judgment.
“I feel like he was one of the people that actually saw me for me,” she said.
Showers of Hope Utah organized Wednesday’s remembrance near its shower trailer on the west side of the park. Friends gathered in the grass to share stories, observe a moment of silence and remember the person behind the initial reports.
Jeremy Youngren said he met Kratos in 2019, when both men were experiencing homelessness and staying in the park.
“He went by Kratos, but Marcus was his name,” Youngren said. “He had a name and a personality.”
Youngren described that personality as larger than life.
“He thought he was 10 feet tall and bulletproof,” Youngren said. “He looked like Prince, just a little skinny guy, but he was all heart.”
Youngren said Kratos could be a hothead and would rarely back down from a confrontation.
“We always thought that he might get into trouble that way,” he said.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Salt Lake City police were called to Liberty Park at approximately 3:33 p.m. Sunday. Officers found the victim with a gunshot wound to his chest. Medical personnel pronounced him dead at the scene.
Police arrested 21-year-old Dylan Lee McDonald near the scene on suspicion of first-degree felony murder.
Investigators said the confrontation began after McDonald approached Kratos about a dog he believed belonged to someone else. Witnesses told police the two argued before Kratos pushed and then slapped McDonald.
Witnesses said Kratos began backing away before McDonald pulled a gun and fired once, striking him in the chest.
McDonald told police he believed Kratos was reaching for a weapon. He also said his glasses had been knocked off and his vision was blurry following the slap.
Witnesses told investigators they did not see Kratos reach for anything. One witness said Kratos was unwrapping the dog’s leash from his hand when he was shot.
According to the affidavit, a witness removed a black lighter shaped like a small pistol from Kratos’ pocket after the shooting. Police recovered the lighter, a 9 mm firearm, a cartridge casing and a holster near the scene.
While the police documents describe the final confrontation, Kratos’ friends said it was only one part of his story.
Youngren remembered him as a talented rapper who could improvise long verses and dreamed of making music. He also said Kratos regularly checked on other people living in the park.
“He’d be walking around saying, ‘Hey, are you OK? Are you doing good?’” Youngren said. “Always checking in on you.”
Renée Shaw, founder and executive director of Showers of Hope Utah, said people living on the streets often die without a funeral, obituary or gathering to honor their lives. She organized the remembrance because she wanted the community to know the person behind the headline.
As friends gathered Wednesday, Dart stood in the grass and sang “Fire and Rain” for the friend she had only just learned was gone.
“But I always thought that I’d see you again,” she sang.
The man first identified only by his circumstances was remembered by his friends as Marcus, Kratos and someone who mattered.
