NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- There are more questions than answers almost two days after a homeless man was found slain in downtown Nashville on a park bench.

Related: Images | Video: Slain Homeless Man's Sister Remembers Educated Man | Video | Video

Police are trying to figure out if the crime was random or if Edward Matthews was targeted for a specific reason.

His family is begging for answers, and people downtown are concerned.

“She could just feel it in her soul,” said Cleo Burrows, who said her mother just knew that it was her son who had been found on a park bench, shot to death in his sleep.

“I want to know what happened. I want to know why someone would shoot a person that was laying there asleep, not bothering nobody,” said Burrows.

She said her only brother was a smart man. He graduated from Hillwood High School in 1981 and went on to earn a B.S. in Special Education from Tennessee State University.

They were close, she said, but after school they each went their separate ways.

Looking at an old picture of her brother, Burrows said, “This is my brother, in that hat picture, but I don't know who that is, but that is my brother.”

Burrows remembers her brother as the smart man he used to be. Over the years, his smile faded, and Matthews' life went in another direction.

“Bad decisions in life and hanging out with the wrong people,” Burrows said, put her brother on the street.

For the past 20 years, Matthews lived on the streets of Nashville. "Maxi," as he was known, lived under a fog of drugs and dozens of arrests.

One homeless man Channel 4 spoke with Wednesday said he walked by early Tuesday morning and saw Matthews sleeping on the bench at 5th Avenue and Church Street just hours before police found him.

Richard Bolin said after hearing the news, he noticed fear among the younger homeless.

“But the old hands, the people who’ve been here for 10, 15, 20 years on the street homeless, it was just another day for them," Bolin said. "It was a very strange the reaction.”

“I'm not going to rest 'til I know what happened or why they did it, and I hope they find the person who did it," said Burrows.

Detectives and officers have been handing out fliers in areas where the homeless congregate and gather for meals. Those fliers have Matthews' photo and Crime Stoppers information.

Metro police are seeking some kind of information in this case. Those with any information are asked to call Crime Stoppers at 74-CRIME.