Family of Anthony Warren looks for answers after his death

A grieving family said it is asking for answers after 30-year-old Anthony Warren was shot and killed on New Year’s Day in Columbia.

ABC 17 talked with the Warren family and their lawyer on Tuesday, who claim that police have a person of interest in the homicide but they’re being kept in the dark about the investigation.

“We shouldn’t have to reach out to the police, they should be reaching out to us,” said Warren’s sister-in-law Misty Blumer. “We’re the ones hurting, we’re the ones who have lost a loved one.”

Warren’s family maintains that Warren was an innocent bystander in a fight that broke out at the Waffle House on Vandiver Drive. Warren’s family said police explained that surveillance footage showed that he had only been in the restaurant for five minutes.

“He was there at the wrong place, wrong time,” said Blumer. “That was his last seconds of life.”

Shortly after ABC17 News spoke with Blumer, Warren’s attorney, Julia Bonham, reached out and said that a meeting had been set up for them with police at about 4:30 p.m.

Columbia police did not answer any questions about the case and said there were “no updates.”

Blumer said the family will remember a man with a distinctive laugh and someone who was well-liked in the community.

“There was never a time that he was not welcomed or wanted somewhere,” said Blumer. “He wasn’t everyone’s first cup of tea, but he wasn’t anyone’s last cup of tea.”