JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Tommy Jenkins was at a party in a Northwest Jacksonville home last month when he was killed by a stray bullet.
A month later, police still have not captured the gunman in the drive-by shooting in the 7600 block of Bronson Lane, near the intersection of Moncrief Road and Soutel Drive, that killed the 30-year-old Jenkins on March 12.
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"Man up. Talk. Tell us the information," Wyllie Hodges, executive director of Crime Stoppers, said at a news conference Tuesday to announce a $1,000 reward to help find the killer.
Jenkins' family gathered with law enforcement downtown to ask the community to step forward.
"He called me and said, 'Mom, I want to let you know that I love you,'" Jenkins' mother, Beverlie Jenkins, said.
Jenkins' family is all too familiar with tragedy. Just last year, Jenkins' cousin Makia Coney was murdered by two of her classmates.
"They were close," Beverlie Jenkins said of her son and Coney. "That took a hold on him, also, because that was his little cousin. He would say, 'That's my little cuz.'"
Stephen Jenkins, Tommy Jenkins's older brother, said solving Coney's murder gave the family closure. Now, they'd like to have justice for Coney's cousin.
"We all want closure in life. That would be a big part for our family, closing that door," Stephen Jenkins said.
The family said that above all, the two tragedies have made them closer and stronger.
"If it wasn't for God and our faith in God, we wouldn't have been able to handle all of this," Beverlie Jenkins said.
If you have any information about the killing or the shooter's identity or whereabouts, call Crime Stoppers at 866-845-TIPS.