A 20-year-old Racine man with an extensive criminal record has been identified as the person who threw the punch that caused the death of a Kenosha middle school teacher last month.

Kenosha police on Tuesday said a tip from two teenage girls who witnessed the attack was the key that helped detectives pin Martin L. Walker as Colin Byars’ alleged killer. The Police Department has requested a charge of first-degree reckless homicide and he could appear in court today.

“That statute says whoever causes the death of another human being under circumstances which show utter disregard are guilty of first-degree reckless homicide,” Kenosha Police Chief John Morrissey said. “We believe that is what Mr. Walker did by his actions, by punching Colin and leaving the scene.”

According to police, Byars, 24, was leaving Big Shotz, on the corner of 30th Avenue and Roosevelt Road, at about 2:20 a.m. Feb. 21, when he stood up to a group of three men who accosted some females in Byars’ group. Walker allegedly punched Byars, causing him to fall and hit his head on a concrete curb. He suffered a massive head injury, police said, and was pronounced dead at Froedtert Hospital in Wauwatosa.

“This is nothing more than a senseless death,” Morrissey said at an afternoon news conference, flanked by Byars’ parents, Kenosha Mayor Keith Bosman and detectives who worked the case. “(Byars) was standing up for the girls there. It’s pathetic that Mr. Martin Walker felt that he needed to take a swing at Colin.”

Police identified the other men with Martin as Damon M. Rodriguez, 19, and Jeremy S. Powell, 18. Rodriguez, who had been wanted on a probation warrant, turned himself into Racine police on Tuesday. Powell also is wanted on a probation warrant and remains at large.

Police asked anyone with information on Powell’s whereabouts to call the department’s dispatch line at 656-1234. Police also warned he is considered armed and dangerous.

During the news conference, Byars’ parents, Paul Byars and Danelle Eckert, tearfully thanked investigators for their work and pleaded for residents to call police with more information that could help the case.

“My Colin was so sweet,” Eckert said, clutching a photo of her son. “If anybody else has any information, because there’s a lot of people out there that I know know something that can help this case. He wasn’t only just stolen from us, but he was stolen from the whole community.”

At this point, Kenosha police said they are only interested in interviewing the men about Byars’ death and do not plan to request charges for the other men.

However, the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department likely will request charges in coming days for the three men, stemming from crimes they allegedly committed after the attack on Byars.

According to police, the men fled to the city’s north side where they broke into multiple cars about three hours after confronting Byars. A half hour later, the men were involved in an armed robbery at a gas station in the 1900 block of 22nd Avenue.

But authorities already were working on the suspects’ trail. A Big Shotz bouncer gave police a license plate number for a vehicle registered to Walker’s girlfriend and investigators began interviewing several witnesses. They learned of the suspects’ affiliation with a street gang and a team of detectives with knowledge of gang crimes had Walker, who goes by the street name “Duke,” on their radar.

Within several hours of Byars’ death, authorities found Walker at his Racine County apartment and arrested him on a warrant. But detectives still needed to prove Walker’s involvement.

“We had in mind who the three individuals involved were,” Detective Mathew Hagen said. “We just didn’t know which one actually was the one that punched Mr. Byars.”

They got the break they needed days after Byars’ death, with the help of Willie Hamilton, a school resource officer at Lincoln Middle School. Under Hamilton’s guidance, two individuals who had seen the attack identified Walker as the man who threw the punch.

On Tuesday, Morrissey credited the detectives, Hamilton and a mother and aunt who brought the individuals to police for their help in solving the case.

“Those two are very important witnesses in this,” Morrissey said. “I need to give a lot of credit to the mother and the aunt that brought those two individuals forward and Officer Hamilton for having the relationship with the community that he does.”

Walker, a convicted felon, has a criminal record that includes convictions for resisting police, battery, possession of a dangerous weapon and two convictions for operating a car without owner’s consent. At the time of Byars’ death, Walker was out of jail on bond for marijuana possession and carrying a concealed weapon.

If convicted of first-degree reckless homicide, Walker faces up to 60 years in prison.