It was August 14, 2006 when 17-year-old Aubrey Abrakasa was gunned down in front of a preschool at the corner of Baker and Grove streets in the NoPa neighborhood. San Francisco police and the victim's mother are marking another anniversary with a plea for the public's help to solve the murder.

Aubrey, who was days or weeks out from starting his senior year in high school, was leaving his mother's house nearby and was headed to his job as a youth counselor in Bernal Heights, when he saw a car coming fast down Baker Street. Witnesses say he shouted "Run!" to warn those around him, and as he ran, he was shot by someone in the car — some 30 rounds were fired, and Aubrey was hit 12 times in the back.

The motivations in the case remain a mystery to the SFPD — the prevailing theory seems to be that it was a case of mistaken identity, or that someone else on the street nearby was the real target. Aubreay was known to be a good student who stayed out of trouble, and none of this made sense at the time.

Former SFPD Chief Tony Chaplin said, back on the 10th anniversary of the murder in 2016, that investigators believe that a local gang was responsible, the Central Division Players, and Aubrey Abrakasa was not involved with any gang.

If this shooting had happened anytime in the last decade or so, chances would be high that the vehicle from which the shots were fired would have been caught on someone's Nest camera or other surveillance camera. But, instead, police have had to rely on a witness to come forward who recognized the shooter or someone in the car, or someone who was in the vehicle, or knew someone who was, would have to snitch.

Police, and Abrakasa's mother, Paulette Brown, are hoping that recently passed legislation making it easier to pay rewards to tipsters will help bring about a break in the case. A $250,000 reward remains on the table, and the legislation, passed by the Board of Supervisors in June, allows it to be paid when criminal charges are filed, and not after a conviction is won.

Tipsters can also now claim rewards while remaining anonymous, and regardless of whether they have past criminal histories.

Brown has spent the almost two decades since her son was killed working as an advocate for crime victims.

"Aubrey’s mother, Paulette Brown, has been a tireless advocate for her son and the families of other murder victims," the SFPD says in a statement this week. "In partnership with the SFPD’s Homicide Detail and Crime Strategies Division, Ms. Brown helped spearhead the creation of a digital posterboard of homicide victims reward bulletins to be displayed in our district stations’ lobbies."

Brown tells the Chronicle this week, "I’m turning my grief into action. I have to do that because I can’t sit in a therapist’s office and wait for her to say, ‘OK, Miss Brown, your time is up. I’ll see you next week.’ I can’t do that. I gotta advocate. I gotta move."

Family members, advocates, and police held a commemorative event Thursday in the middle of the intersection at Baker and Grove. Former Supervisor Dean Preston spoke at the event, per the Chronicle, saying, "Every person lost to gun violence in our city and our society is a policy failure, and that means by self-inclusion, every leader here — it is wonderful we are gathered together — but we also know that collectively, we don’t do enough as a city, as a state and as a country. While I lay the collective blame on the leadership at all levels of government, we also are part of that solution."

Previously: SFPD Reexamines Ten-Year-Old Cold Case Murder Of Aubrey Abrakasa, Reveals New Info