Mom of 29-year-old murder victim pleads for justice three years after downtown shooting

ATLANTA - It's been three years since the day someone gunned down 29-year-old Deandre Houston while he was walking to his car from a hookah bar on Luckie Street.

All this time, there still has not been closure for the car salesman's mother, Kischa Houston.

"His hugs were the most infectious hugs. He’s really a godsend," she said. "He was just 29. He was a homeowner, he graduated college."

Deandre Houston (Supplied)

Investigators say three people in a stolen Nissan approached Houston before one of those people shot him.

Two people were caught on security cameras.

"I know it’s not easy, but I know somebody knows something," Kischa Houston said.

His murder was one of a handful of incidents at or near the Encore nightclub leading to the city ordering its closure.

Data analyzed by FOX 5 shows in the two years since it closed on that block of Luckie Street, crimes against persons fell by 82%, but property crimes like break-ins were up about 23%.

The entrance to now-defunct Encore Hookah Bar & Bistro in Downtown Atlanta. (FOX 5)

"The gangs have taken over so much that a lot of these parents don’t have control over their own kids," she said.

The family has raised $20,000 for a reward for anyone who can bring the killer to justice.