Thomas Umberto Sladek was 21 and a Redding, California resident when he was shot and killed on January 26, 2014. He was found with gunshot wounds in his car at Alta Mesa Park and later died at Mercy Medical Center. Thomas worked as a sales associate at a local Walmart and had planned to enroll at Shasta College in the spring. He was raised by his mother, Desiree Lee Hill, who died in 2012, and is remembered by family and friends for his love of the outdoors, sports, and music.

Witnesses described two young men approaching Thomas’s vehicle, speaking with him, and then one firing into the car before fleeing. Investigators say the encounter was a planned robbery disguised as a drug deal; Thomas and friends had gone to the park to buy oxycodone and were allegedly targeted. Three suspects — Logan Jackson Barnhart, Dillon Ray Sims, and Raquan Anthony Blake Matthews — were arrested and charged with murder, attempted robbery, and conspiracy. Matthews, who was 17 at the time, is identified as the shooter and was tried as an adult.

Are there details about that night at Alta Mesa Park or about Thomas’s life that could help piece together what happened?