KPTV - FOX 12Cold Case: Witnesses reluctant to come forward in 1994 murder

The family of Darryl English is convinced all it would take to solve the 18-year-old's murder is someone speaking up.

"There was a million people out there that night, people on their porches, on the block. I know somebody seen something, I know they did," said Sam Watkins, English's cousin.

Portland Police cold case investigators said a group of six young men were headed home on the bus after an evening at the Lloyd Center on Nov. 11, 1994 at 11:30 p.m.

Detectives said the group got off the bus at northeast 15th and Going when shots rang out.

"A car pulls up and some gang signs were flashed," said Dennis Baker, a retired detective who has recently reviewed the unsolved homicide case. "An arm comes out of the window and shots are fired, people scatter."

Three young men were shot; English was fatally wounded in the head.

English's cousin, Sam Watkins, was driving by, saw police and stopped to see what was going on.

"I didn't think it was my cousin, until they said Darryl and I said, 'Who?' and they said Darryl English and that's when it hit me," Watkins said.

"It's unexplainable, there's a deep hole, a very deep hole to this day, I'm still angry with God," said Roslyn Windom, English's mother.

Windom said her son's passion was dance and he was getting ready to go to college in California. She said he was not a gang member, although police say the shooting was gang-related.

Investigators do not know who the intended target was. They say some witnesses have been reluctant to come forward.

"Put yourself in our shoes, it's been too long. It's been too long. We're in the next millennium and it hasn't been solved," Watkins said.

"It's just an empty, empty void not knowing," Windom said.

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