An arrest warrant has been issued for a man wanted for what is now classified as the murder of Marvin D. Norman.

Kendrell “Dick” McCants, 28, of Atmore, is officially a suspect in the crime, Atmore Police Chief Jason Dean announced Friday afternoon.

“We just got information that gave us enough probable cause to get a warrant,” Dean said. “His last known address was 406 Peachtree Street. Officers went over there and they were told he no longer lives there.”

The search for McCants begins less than a week after Norman, 50, was found unconscious in the yard of a residence on Brooks Lane early Sunday morning with injuries police said were consistent with an assault. Norman was taken by Lifeflight from Atmore Community Hospital to Baptist Hospital in Pensacola, where he later died from his injuries.

Although Dean did not reveal any possible motive for McCants’ involvement, he said he is the sole suspect at this time.

Norman’s mother, Johnnie Mae Norman, said she does not know McCants personally, but has heard of his reputation for getting into trouble.

“I always heard he was a gangster,” She said. “I have never met him and I’ve never seen him. I’ve just heard a lot about him.”

Norman said, to her knowledge, her son did not know McCants either. In fact, Norman said she is not sure why her son was in that area at all.

“He lives with me on the outskirts of town,” she said. “The last time we spoke was Saturday morning between 7 and 8 a.m. I had worked that night and when I came home he was washing dishes. He was happy and everything was fine. When I woke up about 10:30 a.m., he was gone.”

Norman said she received a call from personnel at Atmore Community Hospital, where she retired after 35 years as an LPN and still works one or two days a week, around 8:45 a.m. Sunday alerting her that her son had been badly injured.

“They said they found him in a ditch,” she said. “I don’t know what he was doing there. He could have been walking trying to get a ride home.”

Regardless of what her son was doing on Brooks Lane Sunday morning, Norman says she does not know why McCants would have targeted him.

“I don’t know of anybody that would harm him, because he was an outgoing person. He didn’t meet a stranger. He was a happy person. He would laugh and talk with anybody.”

Norman said she stayed by her son’s side until he passed away at approximately 4:13 a.m. Monday.

“He was in a deep coma,” she said. “He never came out of it.”

Dean said McCants is five foot, nine inches tall and approximately 137 pounds. He is asking that anyone with any information as to his whereabouts call Atmore Police Department at (251) 368-9141.

Norman, too, is asking for the public’s help.

“Please just call if you know anything,” she said. “If it were your family member, you’d want some closure. I just want some closure.”