Do you know who murdered Ashton Tomas? Ashton Michael Tomas was a determined young man on the cusp of a new achievement. At 25 years old, the Louisville, Kentucky, native had recently earned his GED and was described by loved ones as mannerable, nice, and deeply interested in politics. He was a Black man known to some by his nicknames, D.C. and A.T., but his family and friends remembered him simply as Ashton, a person with a memorable laugh who was easy to talk to about anything.
On the afternoon of Wednesday, April 26, 2017, Ashton was sitting on the porch of an abandoned home in the Shawnee neighborhood. Shortly before 3 p.m., in the 4100 block of West Broadway near 41st Street, a person approached, shot Ashton, and then ran from the scene. Emergency crews were called to the location, but Ashton did not survive his injuries.
Less than a month later, on May 19, 2017, Ashton's family gathered for a commencement ceremony where he was to have received his diploma.
His mother, Cassandra Tomas, walked across the stage to accept the GED her son had worked so hard for. As the first diploma of the 2017 class was awarded in his name, the crowd gave his mother a standing ovation while a seat was left empty in his honor. "I'm walking for him because he earned it and he told me he was determined," his mother said. "And if that doesn't make a mom proud, I don't know what does."
Investigators with the Louisville Metro Police Department began looking into Ashton's death immediately, but the person who shot him has never been publicly identified. As of May 2017, no arrests had been made in the case. The homicide of Ashton Tomas remains unsolved. Police ask anyone with information to call the anonymous tip line at 502-574-LMPD. 
