A family was just awarded millions of dollars in a lawsuit for their son’s death

SEMINOLE, Fla. — An aspiring 33-year-old music engineer was gunned down and killed at a Sanford apartment complex.

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Investigators say Vista Haven apartments had no working security cameras, a broken gate, security guards, or security precautions.   

Phillip Martin was killed there while visiting his cousin by a repeat violent criminal who was staying at the complex illegally.

The family won an 8.6 million dollar lawsuit against the property for negligence.

Investigators said they found the victim by following a trail of blood up flights of steps and to a locked door.

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Martin was on Facetime with a friend when he was killed. 

“If the necessary security was here, during the time that he was visiting, I think he would have still been with us,” said Freda Lorraine McCrimmon Martin, Phillip’s mother.

Martin’s family sued the Vista Haven apartment complex after she was shot and killed by a man illegally living there, Kadeem Omar Fischer.

“To all companies that watch over apartment complexes, we beg you to have the necessary security measures in place,” McCrimmon Martin said.  “To genuinely care about the people legally living in and visiting the apartments.”

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The family also sued the property manager, Highmark Property Management.

Channel 9 first told you about Highmark in March. It runs the Woodhill Apartments in Orange County. That’s the complex that had dozens of reports of gas leaks.

A gas explosion killed a mother of three, Mikeanesha Moore, just days after the family moved into their apartment. Moore’s family has currently a negligence suit filed against Highmark.

“We need somebody held accountable,” said Moores husband Raven Fondia. “We don’t have her anymore she’s dead my boys don’t have their mom anymore.”

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Martin’s family just won its suit against Highmark and Vista Haven; they won $8.6 million from the complex because it did not have basic security measures on the property and for not doing proper background checks on residents.

“I can be at work, and I’m sitting there crying at my desk because I miss my son,” said Martin’s mother.

At the start of June, Fisher was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Channel 9 drove through the complex today, and we did not see any major improvements to security. Improvements the lawsuit said could have saved a life.

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