Los Angeles News

CARSON, Calif. (CBS) ― The mother and twin sister of a slain 14-year-old boy went door-to-door Saturday near where he was fatally shot more than five years ago.

Jackie Johnson, 40, whose son Dwayne Earl Jackson was killed Oct. 18, 2001 at Fernrock Street and Tajunta Avenue is seeking some semblance of closure in her search for her son's killers.

"I'm hoping it will make me feel somewhat better to know they did finally catch the people that did this, because I would hate for them to kill someone else on the street. I'm doing this for everyone, for myself and for other parents out there as well," Jackson said.

Denisha Jackson, 19, said she is still angry about her twin brother's death and demanded that the killers turn themselves in.

"I'm angry that this person that killed my brother is still walking the streets, is able to have kids, is able to get married, is able to drive a car, is able to do anything," Denisha Jackson said.

"What they did to my brother is selfish, and I want the person who did this to come forward," she added.

Although her brother is dead, he still lives through her, she said in a message to his killers.

"That day he still wasn't taken away from me, he still with me, that's why I'm here today to let you guys know you need to turn yourselves in," she said.

According to police reports, Dwayne and some of his friends were riding bicucles between 5 and 5:30 p.m. when a car pulled up. Dwayne assumed that the occupants wanted directions and approached the vehicle and when he stepped closer to the car, a man in the back seat fired a shotgun round into his chest.

The vehicle was described as a 1980 Chevrolet Caprice four-door sedan with a taxi cab sign attached to the top, with possible black lettering or numerals on the left rear quarter panel of the vehicle.

He was shot once in the chest, said Denisha Jackson, who was returning from a trip with her mother to a nearby gas station when she saw her brother lying on the ground outside the family's Fernrock Street home.

Dwayne was taken to Harbor General Hospital where he died.

"That morning he left he told me that he loved me and I didn't get to see him come back," she sobbed. "I walked up to him on that ground and I didn't even get to say anything."

Jackie Johnson believes the shooting was part of a "senseless" gang initiation ritual, though a motive to the killing has yet to be established.

The driver was described as a black male, about 17-20 years old, bald and wearing dark clothing. The back seat passenger, a man with a dark complexion and corn rows, also was believed to be in the same age range as the driver, at the time of the shooting.

"They were trying to find someone to kill or to shoot on that particular day and it just happened to be my son," Jackie Jackson said.

Jackie Jackson said the passage of five years has done little to ease the pain of her son's violent death.

"Nothing has changed from then to now," she said. "The hurt is still the same. It gets betters over the years... but the pain is still there. No words can describe how I feel right now."

She said she still wonders why he was killed.

"At 14, you just don't imagine someone driving up and shooting a little kid, a baby, actually," she said.

She renewed her efforts to find the killer by contacting the Justice for Murdered Children, who is now offering a $40,000 reward for information leading up to the arrest of the killers.

The city of Carson also pitched in an additional $10,000.

Lawanda Hawkins, CEO of Justice for Murdered Children, said people like Dwayne's killers need to be stopped.

"If you don't get them the first time, they're like little dogs. They kill again," said Hawkins, whose own son was also murdered.

Anyone with any information regarding the shooting attack was asked to call Carson police at (323) 890-5500 or Justice for Murdered Children at (310) 547-5362.

(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)