On August 19, 1989, Mark Allen MacPhail was killed on the job. Mark was working as a security guard when he heard someone cry out in pain nearby and went to help. He encountered Troy Davis and Sylvester Coles beating a homeless man; when Mark tried to intervene, Troy shot him in the heart and face. Mark left behind a 2-year-old daughter and an infant son. Despite seven witnesses who saw Troy shoot Mark, and other witnesses to whom Troy confessed his guilt, over the next 20 years many organizations, activists, musicians, and other celebrities took up Troy's cause, trying to rescue him from death row. Because of this, Mark's son had to keep a low profile; if strangers learned who he was, they would often react in anger, calling him "every nasty name you can think of and some you can't," according to the son. "That hurts. It's like my dad did something wrong that night. Or my family has done something wrong since."