WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — The New Year means new beginnings for plenty of people, but some families are still grieving loved ones lost to gun violence during 2022.

What You Need To Know

  • Winston-Salem police say there were 10 unsolved homicides last year

  • Toriyana Gaskins was shot and killed March 6, and her case is still unsolved

  • Gaskins' mother, Lashanda Lewis, has started a foundation called Tori’s Choice in memory of her daughter

The Lewis family has put up their own cash reward for any information leading to an arrest in Toriyana Gaskins' murder.

Gaskins was shot and killed March 6. Police say there has been no arrest and the investigation is ongoing. 

Gaskins' mother, Lashanda Lewis, says someone shot at her daughter's car as she was taking friends to get food from Cook Out.

“And apparently the guys that they were after, that were in her car, which she knew nothing about, that they had gotten into some things or whatever, I guess. And they spotted them at Cook Out. And they followed my daughter down 52. And they ended up shooting at her car more than a dozen rounds,” Lewis said.

Lewis and her family remember Gaskins as loyal, kind and big-hearted.

“If anybody needed a ride to work or to school, she was that type of person. She would volunteer with me. She was also very much into church. You know, she was on the praise and dance team, she was on the choir, junior usher board, she did a lot in church,” Lewis said.

Lewis started a foundation called Tori’s Choice, to help families and children who are affected by gun violence.

She has partnered with Winston-Salem Recreation and Parks Department to help with mentoring and tutoring kids.

“That’s what the foundation is about, instilling in these children, that you know, hey, there is a better life, you know there is a better way, even though your parents might not have money, you know there is work-study, you can always still go to college and make a better way for yourself,” Lewis said.

Lewis is no stranger to gun violence. In the past three years, she has lost two other close family members. With the foundation, she’s trying to make a change.

“I couldn’t save my child, but maybe I can save someone else’s,” Lewis said.

Tori’s Choice is a registered foundation within all 100 North Carolina counties. Lewis wants to be able to create safe havens for children around the state.

Tori’s Choice Foundation is putting up a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in Gaskins' killing.

In Winston-Salem, police say there were 10 unsolved homicides last year. In Raleigh, police leaders say there were 11 open homicides from 2022 into 2023, with two of them happening over the New Year holiday. Fayetteville police report five open homicides, and Asheville police report four.