Two teenagers from Lawrenceville are jailed in South Carolina in connection with the deadly shooting of a high school student at Sugarloaf Mills mall.
Two days and nearly 100 miles separated the killing of Elijah DeWitt, a Jefferson High School senior and football standout, and the arrests of Chandler Zion Richardson, 19, and Kemare Matthew Bryan, 18. Both are accused of murder in DeWitt’s death.
The wide receiver was found dead Wednesday night in the parking lot of the Gwinnett County mall near Dave & Buster’s. According to Gwinnett police, the shooting was not random.
Credit: Jefferson High School Football
Credit: Jefferson High School Football
“Detectives are still working to investigate the motive behind this incident. It appears that the suspects and the victim were familiar with each other and when they encountered each other in the parking lot, an altercation took place and then the shooting,” a police spokesperson said Friday in a news release.
The teen’s mother, Dawn DeWitt, said she’s not so sure her son knew the men who gunned him down.
“Kids have Snapchat friends, they have this, they have that,” she told Channel 2 Action News. “I spoke to the detective today and he said they are not friends.”
Police announced Richardson’s arrest Thursday afternoon, and Bryan was taken into custody Friday. They are being held in Anderson County, a community east of Lake Hartwell just across the South Carolina border.
Richardson and Bryan are expected to be brought back to Gwinnett on Monday to face charges of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of certain felonies, according to police.
The hours prior to DeWitt’s death made for a great day, according to his mom. She told Channel 2 that after attending football practice, playing golf and spending time with family, he went to Dave & Buster’s to enjoy his evening.
“He was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Dawn DeWitt said.
DeWitt’s death left the Jackson County community “heartbroken,” Jefferson City Schools superintendent Donna R. McMullan said Thursday, extending her condolences to the DeWitt family.
His aunt, Lauren DeWitt, said Elijah had just turned 18 and lived his life without worry for the future. She believes he was murdered “for no warranted reason.”
“He got after it every chance he could,” his aunt said in a public Facebook post. “Injured? No problem. He was on the field, going after someone as though that game might be his last. He clung to the people that were important to him and supported him. He loved big, he was/is loved by a whole community and he changed the lives of those he encountered.”
He was a fire, she said, and his loved ones “will not let his light burn out.”
The school system is on fall break, but McMullan said counselors and other support staff would be available to grieving students and staff as needed. There is no varsity football game scheduled for this week, and Thursday’s practice was canceled.
DeWitt compiled nearly 600 receiving yards and five touchdowns in six games this season, according to the Athens Banner-Herald. He played his junior season at Prince Avenue Christian in Athens before transferring to Jefferson for his senior year.
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