Family and friends gather for the 5 year anniversary of the Corey Harrell Jr homicide

MOLINE, Ill. (KWQC) - It was 5 years ago today when 22-year-old Corey Harrell Jr. was gunned down in his vehicle in front of Moline City Hall.

Every year since family and friends gather in the parking lot behind City Hall in a remembrance walk.

Five years and still no arrest have been made for this case. The crime occurred in broad daylight, and the family and Moline police are seeking further information.

Friends and family say there were people in the area who may have seen something that day, and they ask those people to please come forward.

“We just want the community to know that we need your help and it’s important,” the Rev. Tyson Parks III, Harrell Jr’s cousin said. “Don’t turn a blind eye to violence.”

Parks says this will take a group effort and the community needs to step up and help bring these criminals to justice.

“Law enforcement can’t do it by themselves,” Parks said. “The community has to take accountability and ownership. This happened at City Hall. This could have happened to anybody. There were construction workers out that day – bullets are indiscriminate.”

Moline Chief of Police Darren Gault says they have gained notable progress in closing this case over the years but not enough to make a valid arrest.

“Their closure will come with an arrest for murder,” Gault said. “And we haven’t been able to provide that to them to this point. We have made significant progress from that date five years ago, but as you know, it hasn’t been good enough to make this case move to a court of law.”

Retired Moline Detective Jon Leach was on scene that day and still can’t believe it’s been five years.

“I was here on scene when it happened five years ago, Leach said. “And it’s hard to believe that much time has passed, where that black city vehicle is right there is where Corey Jr’s car came to a rest after he was shot and it’s still kind of surreal.”

Still an unsolved mystery, Parks says he hopes these gatherings will inspire someone to come forward with any information.

“We just pray that someone will say something,” he said. “And someone can be inspired to say, hey, I remember something that day.”

Crime Stoppers of the Quad Cities is offering their maximum reward of $2,500 and an additional $17,500 in donations have been raised by concerned citizens with a total of $20,000 in reward money for anyone with any information.

If you have any information on this case, you can call Crime Stoppers at 309-762-9500. They won’t ask your name and all tips are anonymous.

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