Raleigh, N.C. — The mother of a missing man who is the subject of a statewide Silver Alert is pleading with the public for information that could help her find her son, whom she worries could be in danger.

Authorities issued a Silver Alert on Thursday for 23-year-old Ray Williams, who, according to his mother Carnell Shuler, suffers from schizophrenia.

Shuler says that she last saw Williams a week ago when he left their home on Louisburg Road for the day with $3 in bus fare and no medication.

"I know he's a grown man, but he still has a child's mentality," she said Tuesday. "He still has a child's brain."

Shuler says she recently got a call in the middle of the night from someone claiming to have spotted her son in the parking lot of the Mini-City Shopping Center on Capital Boulevard.

She's also received reports that people have seen him in Moore Square in downtown Raleigh.

Raleigh police, however, say they have no fresh leads on where Williams might be and are seeking the public's help.

Williams is black with short, black hair and brown eyes. He is 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighs about 160 pounds. He was last seen wearing a white-hooded sweatshirt and gray sweat pants.

Anyone who sees him is asked to call Raleigh police at 919-996-3335.

Shuler has also been out searching and handing out fliers in hopes that someone will recognize her son and help bring him home.

"He's somewhere where he can't get to me," she said. "I'm just hoping that my son is not killed somewhere, in a ditch, laying somewhere in some backwoods."