Jonathan Tylee Ash, an 18-year-old Black / African American man from Mansfield, Ohio, was known to his family and friends as “Jon.” He was remembered as a loving son and brother who was a “laid back, chill type of person who did not like conflict or drama.” His family said he was sweet and kind and had a smile that would light up the room. At the time of his death, he lived with his brother and worked at Jay Industries Incorporated.
On the afternoon of June 8, 2023, a violent
incident unfolded inside a moving vehicle on West Fourth Street in Mansfield. Around 1:30 p.m., police received calls about a car crash and gunshots near North Lake Park. Arriving officers found a grey Chevy Malibu that had smashed into one of the historic sandstone pillars at the park’s entrance. Inside the car, they discovered another 18-year-old, Nathan Carroll, who was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy would later reveal he had been shot twice.
Officers found Jonathan Ash lying on the ground next to the driver’s door of the crashed car. He was critically injured and rushed to OhioHealth Grant Medical Center in Columbus. For nearly two weeks, he fought for his life, but on June 21, 2023, surrounded by his family, Jonathan succumbed to the injuries he had sustained in the shooting.
The Mansfield Police Department immediately began an investigation. Based on evidence at the scene and a witness account, detectives believed the shooting had occurred inside the car. Others in the area told police that the suspected gunman, described as a young adult male, had fled the scene on foot into the nearby, wooded Middle Park. Officers searched the area extensively but did not find the suspect. As of late June 2023, detectives were actively working the case, but no arrests had been made. The case remains unsolved.
