San Francisco police offer $25,000 reward in 24-year-old man's unsolved homicide

SAN FRANCISCO - 24-year-old Mitchell Warren was shot and killed while walking home in San Francisco in 2016. The case has not been solved.

Police are now offering a new reward in the amount of $25,000

Investigators and his family hope putting a spotlight on what happened will help bring justice.

"Full of energy, uber intelligent young man," Lary Warren describes his son as an accomplished electrician and avid San Francisco Giants fan, A young man who had a bright future, surrounded by his loving family. "He was an outgoing kid looking to have fun," says Warren.

But on September 30, 2016, Mitchell was shot in the Tenderloin neighborhood around 4:30 a.m.

Warren says his son had been at a pub, walked a waitress home and was headed home himself.

Police say Mitchell got into an argument with a man who shot him once in the torso.

Mitchell was able to call 911. He later died at the hospital.

"He gave a description of the shooter. That's how we have the photos of him and that's how they were able to go to local businesses and get their video cameras," says Warren.

Police released surveillance video showing the suspect sitting on the handlebars of a bicycle soon after the shooting.

Investigators have identified the man peddling the bike. But he told police he doesn't really know the man who's on the handlebars.

Warren says he wants to say sorry to his son, "I'm the dad, not being there to defend him."

Mitchell died one week before his sister's wedding.

"I've never grieved. I didn't have time to. I had to be the dad," says Warren.

Mitchell's parents say their grief on hold until the person responsible is held accountable.

"I would like to ask the suspect why. Just why," says Monika Sokoloski, Mitchell's stepmother.    

"My heart goes with you, Dad," Warren reads the loving messages written by himself and other family members on a baseball that sits on top of Mitchell's urn kept at his parents' home.

His unsolved case is an open wound.

"You never forget. Sorry" says Sokoloski as she wipes away tears.

Mitchell's father says he cannot forgive, "Justice will be me sitting there, watching him get prosecuted and having the system swallow him up and put him away."

Mitchell's parents say a flyer asking for help in solving the case posted five years ago remains at a bar in Pacifica where he grew up. He would watch Giants games there.

San Francisco Police are now offering a new $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible.

Warren says he won't be able to grieve until justice is served.