Melvin Felix Corey Capers’s nephew Freezy at the memorial earlier today.

Earlier today, friends and family gathered to remember Corey Capers, a 31-year-old resident of Baruch Houses who was fatally stabbed early Saturday morning. They stood, some weeping, at a memorial full of loving messages set up paces away from where his body was found with a knife wound in the chest, under scaffolding on East Fifth Street, between Avenues C and D.

“I remember him always being a strong person, a laughing person,” said Jonathan Winston, the victim’s brother. “I’m really hurt, but at the end of the day, my little brother, he was a soldier. He went out like a soldier. He went out like a man, and I’m proud of him and I will always be proud of him.”

“I am too,” said Denise Alexander, the victim’s older sister. “You’re my hero, Corey Capers.”

Melvin Felix A poster at the memorial.

Ms. Alexander said she would remember “my brother being greedy, my brother getting on my nerves, my brother just being my baby brother – my last one. He was just my heart. That’s it, that’s my only brother,” she said. “And it’s just sad that you have a young man that’s trying to protect someone and now his life is wronged for no reason.”

Family members said Mr. Capers was stabbed while breaking up an altercation between Carl Knox and his girlfriend. Mr. Knox is now wanted for homicide. A message on a poster at the memorial read, “You died doing what you do best, taking care of family.”

The son of Yvonne Capers and Alan James Henry, Mr. Capers left behind a fiance and a young son, Jahmir Capers. A Facebook memorial page created earlier today remembers Black, as he was known to some, as “a great friend, father, and family [member].”

In the early afternoon, Mr. Capers’ 25-year-old nephew, known as Freezy, sat next to the sidewalk memorial’s candles and cardboard triptych as he remembered his uncle. “He was a good dude, had a kind heart,” he said. “Him jumping into somebody else’s battle, that was just him. He always wanted to be Superman.”

Melvin Felix A pamphlet near the memorial.

Freezy said he saw his uncle for the final time last week. “He asked me where I was going, what I was doing,” he recalled. “He told me to stay out of trouble.”

He added, “He was one of the guys in the hood that, if you needed help, he was there to help. He always kept everybody smiling. He was just a clown.”

A service for Mr. Capers will be held next Monday at R. G. Ortiz Funeral Home, on First Avenue near Second Street, from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Ms. Alexander had a message for the alleged killer of her brother. “Mr. Knox, I just ask the lord to have mercy on you,” she said, “because if you get across me I’m just sorry, you better hope the Lord serves you right.”