‘Justice for the fallen’: Woman who lost her son in Spokane shooting pays tribute to him, other area homicide victims

Tina Reynolds has seen the security camera footage that captures her son running away from his suspected killer before gunshots rang out just over a year ago in the Minnehaha Neighborhood.

Besides that, the last video of 36-year-old Thomas Jay Reynolds, who she called “T.J.,” was captured on his door camera, which showed him and his now 5-year-old daughter watching a rainbow outside their Spokane home a couple days before the shooting.

On Saturday, exactly one year after Thomas Reynolds was shot in the back, Tina, Thomas’ partner and about 15 others released lime green and white balloons, as well as white dove-shaped balloons into the sky above a Kendall Yards park to honor Thomas and the other 24 homicide victims last year in Spokane County.

Tina said she devised the balloon release plan just a few days before Saturday. Now, she plans to hold the short ceremony every year.

“I thought, ‘Oh, instead of making this about my son, let’s honor him by making it about everybody,’ ” Tina said.

Tina, loved ones and other community members gathered Saturday afternoon at Olmsted Brothers Green Park, across the street from Crêpe Café Sisters. Tina said the restaurant was her son’s favorite, and he and family members would go across the street to the park after their meal.

She said her son ate at the restaurant nearly every day.

“He was a big fan of it,” she said.

Tina, who wore a white shirt that had a picture of her and her son on the front, said, “Love you, T.J.,” before releasing her balloon Saturday. The balloons were quickly carried by strong winds in a northeast direction over Kendall Yards and West Central Spokane.

On the park lawn, lime green posters were pinned to the grass.

Some included photos of Thomas, as a youth and adult, with his family. Other posters read, “Justice for the fallen” and “In honor of those lost to homicide.”

A white poster had rainbow colors on the perimeter and a message from his daughter with the words forming the arching rainbow shape. It read, “I’ll hold onto your memory, Daddy. I’ll miss you until we meet again over the rainbow, where we can laugh and be together once more.”

Another lime green photo included a letter pasted to it that highlighted Thomas’ life. He attended West Valley School District, played hockey at Eagles Ice Arena, and loved camping, fishing and riding dirt bikes. The letter described him as “a true family man” who loved cooking and had a dream to open a food truck.

Thomas was born and raised in Spokane and then moved to Michigan from the ages of 11 to 22, his mother said.

He then returned to the Lilac City.

“This is where his heart was,” Tina said of Spokane.

He had a passion for hockey and was offered a scholarship to play at the collegiate level. She said he declined the scholarship and followed his friends to another college.

She said she still has stacks of her son’s binders with hockey notes and plays inside. The binders read, “When I go to the NHL,” on the front. He probably could have played professionally if he accepted his scholarship, she said.

“He was just a natural,” Tina said. “… Until he had his daughter, hockey was his life.”

She said he acted like a kid with his daughter, using his 6-foot-2 frame to go up and down slides at a park or play at a restaurant play place with her.

Tina Reynolds said her son didn’t drive because of medical conditions, so he rode an electric scooter, walked, biked or took the bus.

“He rode his mountain bike like you couldn’t believe,” said Tina, noting he would ride long distances no matter the weather.

Thomas was walking home early in the morning on March 22, 2024, when he and the alleged shooter, Daniel R. Quinn, whom Reynolds did not know, exchanged words, Tina said.

She said Quinn circled the block several times in a Chevrolet Tahoe and Thomas laid hiding in tall grass for several minutes. At some point, Thomas stood, started running and Quinn shot him, she said.

Quinn was charged with suspicion of murder and is awaiting trial next month.

Tina said her son was shot just a few blocks from his home.

She and loved ones held a candlelight vigil at about midnight Saturday, around the time Thomas was shot, at the scene of the crime near Cleveland Avenue and Thor Street.

Other posters Saturday listed last year’s 25 homicide victims in Spokane County.

David Collins-Meyer, 42, wasn’t one of those names, but his sister, Sabrina Meyer, said she and her brother were born and raised in the Spokane area.

Collins-Meyer was shot dead in the chest with a hunting arrow in April in Vancouver, Washington. Richard C. Vanderhoek was charged with suspicion of murder.

Meyer, who wore a sweatshirt with her brother’s photo on the front, said her brother went to the West Side to change his life and was there less than a year before he was killed.

Meyer, who lives in Spokane, said she showed up Saturday to support other homicide victims’ families, who are in the “same boat” as her.

She said she talked to her older brother, whom she called her “best friend,” every day on the phone. She misses those conversations and his laughter that accompanied them.

“He’s the joy in our life,” Meyer said.

Collins-Meyer was a father and an avid fisherman with a huge smile. He would help anyone, including the homeless.

“It hurts tremendously,” she said. “Some days are better than others.”