Four months after a father of three was shot and killed in a downtown Silver Spring, Maryland, parking garage, Montgomery County police say they have no idea who did it.
Now, Joe Reynolds’ widow is joining investigators in asking for the public’s help to share more information from that night.
Karis Hastings said six minutes after her husband parted from their family group to go put leftovers in the car on Dec. 21, 2022, her sister found him dead in a Wayne Avenue garage stairwell.
“In a six-minute time frame, we went from celebrating and being together, getting ready for Christmas, to the unimaginable … that he had been shot, that they were trying to revive him and then they were unable to,” said Hastings, who shares three daughters with Reynolds.
Whoever shot and killed Reynolds, 62, could’ve walked away or driven out of the parking garage without attracting attention — police just don’t know.
“There were a number of people we have been able to view on on video that night, prior to the homicide, and then immediately there afterward,” said Capt. Sean Gagan.
Despite interviewing dozens of people, he said, law enforcement still have no person of interest. They haven’t established a motive either, because Reynolds wasn’t robbed.
Complicating the investigation, Gagan said, is that people may not have heard the shot given the noise and distractions present downtown during the holidays.
“The Wayne Avenue parking garage on the night of Dec. 21 was extremely busy on that particular evening. There were a lot of people coming and going,” Gagan said.
Despite extensive investigative work into what happened to the avid volunteer and federal worker, police don’t have any leads.
“We’re really at our wit’s end in this particular incident … There were no specific cameras in the stairwell. We want to make that perfectly clear. But there are cameras in the garage, and there are no specific images of any individual of interest that we have in our possession,” said Montgomery County Chief of Police Marcus Jones.
Reynolds is remembered as an avid volunteer with his church and community pool. He had just picked up his youngest of three daughters from the airport as she arrived for Christmas break from her school in Colorado on the day he was killed.
Hastings remembers him as a fun pickleball partner who would always support her, even when she didn’t necessarily ask for it. For example, she said he’d drive her to her doctor’s appointments knowing it would just be easier for her if he drove.
A tech “nerd” as she described him, Reynolds bonded with his daughters over technology and had a passion for helping others. Hastings is hoping for justice but said finding who killed her husband won’t change that he’s gone.
“He was just the most loving person, every day, and it’s the little things that I really miss, but make me remember him,” Hastings said.
Despite the difficulties in solving the case, now four months on, Jones said he is committed to finding justice for Reynolds’ family.
“We will continue to investigate his murder until suspects have been identified and apprehended and prosecuted by our state’s attorney’s office. The one thing we do not ever give up on is any murder investigation. We will investigate this until we find out who did this,” Jones said.
Police are asking anyone with information to call Crimesolvers at 1-866-411-TIPS.
