shy or uninterested?

[the SW]

my situation is this..I'm 30 and haven't dated in a very long time, probably more so because I'm terribly shy and afraid of rejection so I don't put myself out there unless I know that there is interest on the part of a guy. I consider myself to be an attractive and intelligent person so I'm not sure what, if anything, I've done wrong..

I recently met (unintentionally) a guy who is 6 yrs younger at a relatives house about couple months ago. I met him through really tragic circumstances and the furthest thing on my mind was meeting anyone. Initially he didn't catch my eye, however through witnessing his actions of kindness and maturity towards myself and others, I started feeling some feelings towards him. I started noticing that he would look at me but wouldn't really talk to me, sometimes he would but only when others were around--(he would be really talkative and goofy with my family and friends), then someone told me he was always talking about me and asking questions about what I did, how old I was, etc..He even knew stuff about me that I had never mentioned nor had I told him. I took that as a sign that maybe he was interested in me, if even slightly.

Last time I seen him was in late Sept. and it's difficult to catch him b/c of our both BUSY schedules. So I located his web page and emailed him to see how he was. He emailed back and basically said that he'd be by my relatives house, so "don't be a stranger". I emailed about 2 more times after that just to say hi, nothing else. Then last week, I emailed him a really platonic email asking how was he doing and whether he wanted to catch a movie that friday or sat..Well he never responded. I talked to a mutual aquaintance who told me that he's "really really shy and gets embarrased easily" Further, that he hasn't had a girlfriend in a long time and she left him for another girl. I already knew he was shy but I feel kind of shocked that I scared him off so easily, considering he has a lot of friends that are girls and from what I understand, he hangs out with them. I also didn't take him as a person that would be rude and not reply even with a "hey sorry Im busy..". which I would've accepted and been like, whatever then. Because I know for a fact I will see him again b/c of mutual friends/relatives, I'm unsure of how to react and whether I should just give up, which I feel like doing b/c basically I feel like he acted like a jerk. I don't want to make a fool of myself again obviously. Or should I just play it by ear and just try to talk to him normally and build a friendship??