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Hastings Family Still Seeking Answers In Son's Death

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Hastings Police are still searching for the gunman responsible for the first homicide in the city in a decade.

Jason Reuter, 34, was found shot to death in his front yard in June.

Police believe his murder is an isolated incident.

The community is coming together Saturday to celebrate Reuter's life and raise funds to help his two sons.

"It hurts. It really does. Words can't hardly explain how you feel inside," Mike Reuter, Jason's father, said.

Mike Reuter says time has not healed his broken heart.

"We pray every day that somebody is going to step up to the plate and give us some answers to our questions," Reuter said.

Reuter believes someone in this small river town knows who killed his son.

Hastings Police say they have interviewed a lot of people, and others have come forward with tips.

And while investigators believe they are close, they say they need more information to make an arrest.

"My wife, she cries every day. Every day she cries," Reuter said.

A gathering is planned this Saturday at noon to celebrate Jason's life and raise funds for his children.

Reuter hopes it will help ease his pain.

"We're hoping this thing Saturday, it will comfort the family a little bit. Plus his two kids," Reuter said.

Many in Hastings pooled their resources to put on a chili feed at the Coliseum bar and grill.

A silent auction, meat raffle and music by the Heartbreakers will highlight this day, a day when a community will wrap its arms around Jason's family.

"If it wasn't for the community and all their prayers and thoughts, I don't know where we'd be," Reuter said.

Reuter hopes someone in the community comes forward with information needed to put his son's killer behind bars.

"We don't want any other family to go through what we are going through," Reuter said.

The family is offering a $15,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of  the person who killed Jason Reuter.

A fund has been set up to help his two sons, Kalob and Shane.

You can donate at any Vermillion State Bank. Ask for the Jason Charles Reuter fund.

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