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On Wednesday, Dec. 21 last year, what began as a day of celebration for the Reynolds family ended in tragedy in downtown Silver Spring when the father of three was killed by an unknown assailant while bringing leftovers to his car in the garage.
Montgomery County Chief of Police Marcus Jones was joined by other department leaders and Reynolds’ wife Karis Hastings on Tuesday, May 2 to once again call on the community to come forward with any information as they search for the shooting suspect or suspects.
“Today we are asking for the public’s help. If anyone in the public was there in the downtown Silver Spring community near the Wayne Avenue garage, we’re calling on them to come forward with this information.
“Any information you may have, no matter how small you think it may be, could be helpful.”
Hastings said that on the fateful night of her husband’s murder, the family had been Christmas shopping and celebrating their daughter’s birthday. They went to get ice cream, while Harris went to bring the leftovers from dinner to their parked car.
One of their daughters decided to opt out of ice cream and also returned to their car. That’s when she found him and called 911.
“It was literally six minutes between when we left the restaurant and she called 911,” Hastings said. ‘When we got our ice cream we came back, and there was a helicopter overhead and the garage was surrounded by police tape. Then I was told that it was my husband who was the victim.
“So literally in six minutes, that was the time frame that we went from celebrating and being together and getting ready for Christmas to the unimaginable that he had been shot.”
Hastings said that instead of gearing up for the holidays, they were instead planning for an inexplicable and unimaginable funeral.
“My kids just lost a wonderful father, who unlike me, could talk to them about their tech-y careers and interests,” she continued. “And I just lost a husband who is just about everything you could want a husband to be.”
While speaking on Tuesday morning, Hastings said that her husband’s death is also a big blow to the community, where he was an active member who worked and volunteered with multiple neighborhood groups and organizations
“So his death is not just a loss for my family, and my extended family, also the larger community,’ Hastings said. “So we’d like someone to come forward and resolve this.”
Despite the tragedy, Hastings said she does not blame Montgomery County or downtown Silver Spring, noting that her family has frequented the area for all of their adult daughters’ lives.
“We can’t now say that Silver Springs is dangerous and people shouldn’t go out there,” she added. “We should address the fact that people have guns who should not have guns and are taking actions to take lives when they should not have that power.”
Hastings echoed the words of Chief Jones while fielding questions from reporters, imploring the community to come forward to “help get a gun off the street.”
“I don’t know why or what happened. Wee don’t know what could have occurred. It was such a short period of time,” she said. “And I just hope that whoever did this is sorry about what happened. Maybe they didn’t mean for it to happen the way it did.
“I just want that person to never do it again. And never have another family go through what my family has gone through.”
Jones said that anyone who has information that could be pertinent to the active investigation should contact the department by calling Crime Solvers at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477).
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