Authorities Identify Street Murder Youth

The young man who was shot and killed last Thursday night in front of Sanctuary on Mount Auburn St. was a 21-year-old white merchant seaman from Hammond, Ind., named Steven V. Myer, known to Cambridge street people only as "Stevie Wonder."

"He had been around for several weeks so we know him pretty well although we still don't know much about his family," David Bynum '59, director of Sanctuary, said last night. "He was a very quiet and gentle person and he used to help out around the storefront."

Cambridge police are still searching for the unknown black man who shot Myer once in the chest after Myer tried to stop him from molesting a girl.

Thursday night and early Friday morning Cambridge police, with the help of Harvard police, conducted an extensive search for the killer in the area around Sanctuary, including Dunster and Mather Houses. Since then, however, Cambridge police have been investigating the case independently.

"We haven't been in touch with the police since the night of the murder," Bynum said last night. "People realize that Sanctuary really isn't implicated in this."

No Ties With Sanctuary

Bynum pointed out that the killing did not occur inside the Sanctuary building, that the alleged killer was not the type of person who normally frequents the storefront, and that Sanctuary enforces strict rules against drinking or carrying guns inside the storefront.

The alleged killer was said by witnesses to have been drinking apple wine outside the building before the shooting occurred.

"This incident has upset the Sanctuary kids, though," Bynum said. "They come to the storefront to try to get away from this type of pressure and violence. If anything, the result has been that the kids are making a greater effort to talk things out, to avoid confrontations."

According to John R. Marquand, chairman of the board of directors of Sanctuary, a number of the young people who knew "Stevie Wonder" raised $104 in the street to send flowers along with the body back to Indiana, and the Cambridge police contributed $15 of the total.

Marquand and Bynum predicted that the killing would have little effect on relations between Sanctuary and the authorities, or on the storefront's public support.

"Right now we have enough funds to operate for another five months," Marquand said, "although it's always easier to get money for research than it is for counseling and such."

Robert Tonis, Chief of the University Police, said last night that the killing on Mount Auburn St. would probably have little effect on Harvard students or on University security. He said that the Cambridge police had not consulted him since the termination of the initial search for the killer.