ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- "He was loving, he was caring. He would give you his last. Everybody got a long with him and everybody loved him," said Meilynn Ramos, victim's girlfriend.
But his life was cut short. Marshall Knibbs,31, was shot and killed in April on Pardee Street near Joseph Avenue.
His killer hasn't been caught. It's something his loved ones haven't come to grips with. They find some comfort, at the corner of Hudson and Pulaski. It’s the site of a makeshift memorial. But that all changed this week, when the memorial was removed. The memorial included a wooden cross, his favorite hat, flowers, and other mementos. Knibbs’ family tells us they know who recently removed it.
"The police came up here and took down his memorial, no reason why. It's something they said they're doing for everybody and its something they can only do at the cemetery, but I don't understand because everyone's memorial is still up," said Ramos.
"We don't make noise, we don't make problems. We sit up here, and we light the candles in his remembrance and we might add more candles as things get older and then we leave. What is it to anybody? We're not hurting anybody and then like she said, 'why didn't you call the family?' and we could have removed it," said Rachel Williams, Knibbs' sister.
This family isn't alone. A memorial on Ernst and Hudson was also removed, they say they were also told by police the memorial had to go.
Driving further down Hudson, there are more roadside memorials. There are plenty more around Rochester.
So we reached out to the city and the police department to find out the municipal policy on roadside memorials. We only received a brief response in writing that police don’t touch the memorials. We never heard back from police.
Meanwhile, Knibbs’ family has set up another memorial in the same spot.
"It's not a day that goes by that I don't think about my brother," said Williams.