Santania Murphy knows that people are frightened about speaking out.

Murphy, the mother of a 22-year-old killed two months ago, is scared too. She has already lost her son Jonathan. She is adamant that she not lose anyone else.

Yet she is even more fearful of remaining silent. Santania Murphy wants justice, but she also wants to shield other parents from the pain of what she has gone through.

“I’m not the only parent who’s going through this, and something has got to be done to make us feel more at ease as parents,” she told The Laurinburg Exchange staff reporter Mary Katherine Murphy in a 1A story last week.

Jonathan Murphy was shot in the early hours of Sept. 21. The young man was gunned down on Lincoln Street just around the corner from his own home. A dozen or so bullets struck his body. He leaves behind two young children.

Santania Murphy does not know who killed her son. But she thinks there are those living around her who do. Laurinburg investigators working the case agree. But like with so many of the unsolved cases here, cooperation from those who may have information is hard to come by.

Murphy is offering a $500 reward for tips. There have been no takers.

Anyone with information in the shooting of Jonathan Murphy should call Detective Jeremy White at 280-5441 or Santania Murphy at 318-4894.

We hope those who know something find courage.

We hope that Santania Murphy finds justice.