LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) -- Police reported hundreds of people were at the scene of the latest homicide at Waterfront Park, but not one person has chosen to speak up about what they saw. It's something they call "the no snitch mentality”, and said it is the reason they are unable to solve some of the city’s most horrific murders.
"This no snitch mentality is literally and figuratively killing us all. We have to speak up," Lt. Emily McKinley with LMPD Homicide said.
It's the grim reality in Louisville today. People are killed, others are watching, and no one says a word.
“Not one of those persons has come forward. Not one person called last night to say hey, I was there, here's what I saw. Not one person stuck around to let an officer know here's what I saw," McKinley said.
Police said it is incredibly frustrating to piece together crimes without the key players.
Three local mothers who have lost their children to gun violence and still don’t know the killer said it is painful that no one will come forward.
"They don't know how badly this hurts. This really, really hurts," Delphine Prentice said.
"Sometimes, I’m in the grocery store, and I think, could that be the person?" Rose Smith said.
"My child didn't ask for this," Michesha Norment said.
Norment lost her first-grade son, Dequante Hobbs, to random gunfire last week. She said finding the person who pulled the trigger is all she can think about.
"I’ll never stop until the person's caught, and I mean never," Norment said.
It's a devastating feeling Delphine Prentice knows all too well. Her son, Damien Morton, was murdered last month and answers about the case have been few and far between.
"For somebody to actually just take your child away from you, this is a hard, hard emotion that you have to deal with," Prentice said.
It's an emotion only comforted by the fact that she knows she's not alone.
Rose Smith has been searching for answers in her child's murder for nearly three years. Her son, Cory Crowe, was shot and killed in 2014. Since then, she's been waiting for police to identify his killer.
Smith said, "Sometimes you think the longer its gets, it’s going to get better. And not knowing, it don’t get better because you realize this is really real."
Three unsolved cases, three desperate mothers, and three lives cut short with no explanation.
"We need those details to put our evidence together. To put our cases together, we have to have your help," McKinley said.
Police are seemingly desperate to solve these crimes and give these mothers much needed closure.