Maryland

Family Trying to Press Murder Charges in Maryland Cold Case

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Nearly two decades after a Maryland man was shot and killed, his family is renewing their fight for justice, and taking the extraordinary step of filing murder charges.

Tylandis Cortez Washington was shot and killed nearly 20 years ago in the parking lot of an apartment complex in Gaithersburg.

"It's been so long, 18 years, and I'm not going to give up on my brother," Washington's sister Takeya Brown said.

Police have never made an arrest and prosecutors have said they can't pursue a case.

Washington's family says they’re tired of waiting for justice.

"I’ve reached out multiple times and they'll tell you, 'We’ll get right back to you' and you don’t hear from them for months and years, for months and years," Brown said.

Believing they know who was responsible for the crime, the family took the rare step of filing murder charges. They filled out a statement of charges against two men and a woman and presented it to a district court commissioner in Rockville.

"It is something that the police department normally do, or should do, but when they don’t do their job, someone has to do the job for them," Washington's mother Stella Brown said.

A spokesman for the Montgomery County State's Attorney's Office says multiple states attorneys have determined over the years that there is not enough evidence to press charges.

The Montgomery County Police Department declined to comment.

"You better lock 'em up is all I can tell you. Justice has to be served and Ty deserves that justice," Stella Brown said.

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