Raymond Eugene Thomas, 24, was shot while seated as a passenger inside a vehicle in the 1700 block of Monroe Avenue in Huntington’s West End on April 6, 2014. The shooting happened just before 4 p.m. after an argument; investigators determined that Anthony Gaston, also reported as from Detroit, fired a rifle at the vehicle and struck Thomas in the head. The driver was not wounded. Thomas was taken to a hospital in critical condition but died several days later, turning the case from an attempted-killing investigation into a homicide prosecution.

Authorities arrested Gaston the next day and initially charged him with attempted murder. In October 2015 Gaston pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter as part of a deal with prosecutors. At sentencing on January 7, 2016, Gaston, described by court reports as 24, expressed remorse; Thomas’s mother, Tominique Lankford, urged a harsher punishment. Because of Gaston’s prior criminal history, the judge imposed the statutory maximum of 15 years in prison.

If anyone knew Raymond Thomas or has information about the circumstances leading up to the April 6, 2014 shooting, please share what is known.