In the days following Ashlee Long’s murder in downtown Dallas, her family used social media to raise awareness about the case. Two weeks later, the culprit eventually surrendered to authorities.
People have left stickers of Ashlee Long, 28, along Main Street. For the first time since their daughter’s death on a night out in Dallas, Long’s family spoke.
The family wants her to be remembered as a career-oriented real estate agent with huge goals, as well as a bright spirit and a devoted friend and daughter.
Downtown Dallas shooting
This Article Includes
Long was visiting from the Richmond-Rosenberg neighborhood in Southwest Houston when she and a group of friends exited a downtown Dallas bar shortly after 2 a.m.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit, surveillance footage captured the gunshot near Main Street.
According to police, Long was with a man who “reached out and brushed his hand along the passenger side of a passing Mercedes.”
Detectives eventually identified the passenger in that automobile as 34-year-old Kendrick Finch, who departed the Mercedes “with a gun in his hand.”
According to the affidavit, a man named Long reached into her purse and pulled out his revolver.
According to authorities, Finch fired a shot, striking Long and the man she was with.
That man fired back, but Finch took off.
A long time later, he died in the hospital.
The man she was with received a shot as well, but he survived.
When authorities presented the circumstances surrounding the shooting, Long’s family was startled and filled with concerns.
According to investigators, a few hours after the incident, Finch called officers and informed them that he was the passenger in the Mercedes.
Finch turned himself in on April 18th, after Dallas police issued a public call on social media.
The moment was captured on video and uploaded on social media by “Smash Da Topic..
Long’s family posted this image on social media to increase awareness and ensure the offender’s arrest.
What they’re saying: Long’s parents still remember their daughter.
“I’m still in a fog. I just feel like I’m in a daze every day,” said Long’s mother. “You’ve got Mother’s Day. You have Father’s Day. We don’t get to have that now.”
“One of the first things the detective said was, if she had been somewhere else 5 minutes before or 5 minutes after, it wouldn’t have happened. It was a random act. That is what is so sickening,” said Long’s stepmother, Holly King.
Dig deeper: Finch has a criminal record, including drug arrests and burglaries.
He is still in the Dallas County Jail on a $500,000 bond.