Tom Marmet excelled in high school, excelled in college and had completed just a few months of a yearlong service program when he was shot at random and killed in D.C.
He was driving home from his position at the nonprofit SOME (So Others Might Eat) on Wednesday evening when shots rang out. One bullet hit him, and he was killed.
Marmet's grieving father, D.C. restaurateur Roger Marmet, spoke on Friday about his family's loss. Marmet was "an innocent, just driving down the street through the city," his father said.
"My wife and I are broken," Roger Marmet said. He owns the Adams Morgan restaurant Roofers Union, among others.
Marmet was committed to community service, his father said.
"There was something inside Tom that, from a very early age, wanted to help people," he said.
D.C. police say Marmet was found shot inside his Jeep Liberty about 5:55 p.m. Wednesday on the 1200 block of 17th Street NE, just east of busy Bladensburg Road NE. He had been stopped at a traffic light when he was shot, a family spokeswoman said in a statement.
Responding officers laid Marmet on the ground and tried to save him, but he was later pronounced dead.
"There were sounds of gunfire reported, and Tom was apparently caught in crossfire or [hit by] a random bullet," the family's statement said.
Marmet grew up in Chevy Chase, Maryland, and attended the D.C. prep school the Maret School. He graduated from the University of Vermont in May.
"He was one of those students who you knew from the get-go had an incredible generosity of spirit," the head of the Maret School, Marjo Talbott, told News4.
He played football and lacrosse for the school, and devoted time to helping others.
The Marmet family statement spoke to how caring Marmet was.
"He loved helping other people, particularly his clients at the Conway Center of SOME," the statement said. SOME serves people experiencing homelessness.
Like Marmet's family members, SOME's clients are reeling from the loss, the organization's president, Rev. John Adams, said.
"People really appreciated him — the people that he worked with and the volunteers that he lived with, so we all are devastated by the whole thing," Adams said.
Marmet's father addressed the shooter.
"I hope that they know that they've taken away the life of somebody who would have been there to help them," he said.
No information was released immediately on a suspect.
Anyone with information on the crime is asked to call police at 202-727-9099, to send an anonymous tip via text to 50411. A reward of as much as $25,000 is available.
