HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – A new year will bring new hope for Walter Rivera and his family that the person who killed his little brother is finally brought to justice.
"We're all very committed," Walter Rivera told Local 10 News. "We're not going to stop. We're going to keep going no matter what."
Jacob Rivera was gunned down on the street a day after his 16th birthday in July 2013. It happened on busy Johnson Street, near 66th Terrace, about 5:30 p.m.
Surveillance cameras from a nearby home caught a glimpse of the killer running toward Johnson before the shooting and fleeing the scene afterward. A white towel or shirt was covering his face.
"He was in and out of relationships with girls, so who knows if there was some jealousy or maybe just a kid that didn't like him in the neighborhood, you know," Rivera said.
The reason the Rivera family is optimistic that somebody will help identify his killer this year is because the reward for that information is now up to $10,000. Rivera said he's been doing handy work and working odd jobs over the past 18 months to raise most of that cash.
"My heart is broken, you know. There's only so much a heart can take," he said. "When a heart is broken, there's no telling what you can do."
Hollywood police did not respond to calls for comment on the investigation, but after more than a year, Walter Rivera said his family is hoping to do what police can't and encourage the community to break the code of silence that's harbored a killer.
"I hope the money talks and walks a very long way," he said. "Because not just anybody can come up with $10,000 and say, 'Here you go. It's for a killer. Get him and this is yours."
Anyone with information is asked to call Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS.
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