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PHILADELPHIA (WTXF) - It's a story we've brought you time and again. A crime happens, and witnesses are too afraid to come forward, reluctant to get involved.
It keeps too many grieving families from finding justice.
FOX 29's Hank Flynn did his best to see things through the eyes of a heartbroken mother fighting for her murdered son.
Here's his take.
"And they're afraid to look at me because they know they're guilty. They know the truth what happened to my son. Nobody wants to reach out to say anything," Yullio Robbins' explained.
Robbins' son, James Walke, was gunned down in broad daylight a year ago February on West Seymour Street in Germantown.
Nobody's been arrested, and she wants justice.
"And it just tears me apart. Every night, every day, I'm like. I'm not going to say I'm losing my mind, because I have to keep my mind in order to fight for him. But I just want closure," Robbins' added.
James was walking down Seymour Street, a street he practically grew up on, to go visit a friend, on the day he was killed.
According to Yullio and to witnesses, James walked down the street from blocks away as the shooter waited right here at the corner of Royal and Seymour, gun in hand.
As James approached, the shooting began. He he was hit twelve times in all.
James protested to his killer that, whatever the reason for the attack, the gunman was shooting the wrong guy.
"And like the neighbor said, she heard James saying with his hands up in the air, 'man, I didn't do it, man, I didn't do it. I don't even know what you're talking about, I didn't do it.' And that's all she heard." Robbins said.
The streets have been quiet since then, at least on the subject of James' death. God forbid anybody who knows anything step up, and you know somebody knows.
"Yeah, yeah, that's the problem. Germantown, wherever in Philadelphia. No snitching code. Nobody wants to tell anything. Nobody wants to break the code. Somebody has to break the code to stop these murders," Robbins added.
There were 277 murders in the city last year. Most of them remain unsolved. The detective working James' case says it's clear that people close to the victim aren't coming clean with information. Why not? What's your excuse? Snitching? That's weak. Use an anonymous tip line. If you've got info on James' killing or any other, you need to man up , or you're party to the dangerous streets you live on.