Golf Tournament to Honor Slain Echo Park Store Employee

Steven and Matthew Butcher bonded on the golf course. When March 17 comes–St. Patrick’s Day–Steven will find himself there again, thinking of the brother who isn't there to play with him anymore.

He'll be organizing the first-ever Matthew Butcher Memorial Golf Tournament that day. March 17 also would have been Matthew's 28th birthday. The proceeds from the tournament, hosted by the Matthew Butcher Memorial Foundation, will go to area charities.

Steven, however, won't be playing. 

"It's just not the same for me anymore," he said.

On a Wednesday last June, the two Highland Park brothers played a few holes at Brookside Golf Course in Pasadena. Steven used to play on the golf team in college, while Matthew operated at a seven handicap.

The next day, Steven dropped Matthew off for his job at The Higher Path, a medical marijuana dispensary in the 1300 block of Sunset Avenue in Echo Park.

It was the last time he would see his brother alive. 

Matthew Butcher was shot to death on the afternoon of June 24. According to police, two men reportedly entered the store and told Butcher and a security guard to lie face down at gunpoint while the store was searched for money and merchandise. Both Butcher and the guard were then shot, with the guard surviving.

 “I used to make fun of him, telling him that 95 to 99 percent of the people who’d come into that store were just dumb stoners,” said Steven, who works for Pasadena City Councilman Steve Madison. “And then he’d tell me about the people in who’d come in wheelchairs, or someone who’d tell him, ‘You helped me eat today.’ He was just happy helping people.”

According to the foundation’s website, its mission is to “honor the memory and legacy of Matthew Butcher by supporting and encouraging acts of charity, kindness and good works in the communities of Northeast Los Angeles.”

“We just want to help anyone we can,” Steven said.

Among some of the concepts Steven is working on are possible scholarship opportunities for students of Eagle Rock High School, the brothers' alma mater.

The idea for a memorial foundation came about as a way to deal with the outpouring of support the Butcher family witnessed following Matthew’s death.

“People just started sending money, and we didn’t really know what to do with it at first,” he said. “But my brother loved helping people – that’s why he worked at the store – so we wanted to take that concept and use it to give back more to the community.”

For more information, call (323) 395-1483.

Editor's note: This article has been changed. The original story contained the incorrect area code for the phone number.