Elijah Daniel DeWitt was 18 and a senior and standout wide receiver at Jefferson High School when he was shot dead on October 5, 2022. He was at Dave & Buster’s at Sugarloaf Mills mall in Lawrenceville, Georgia, with his girlfriend that evening. DeWitt was found in the parking lot with fatal gunshot wounds after an altercation.

Investigators say DeWitt knew the people who confronted him; police report the suspects had encountered him days earlier. Detectives recovered text messages indicating the suspects had gone to the mall intending to rob someone, and that DeWitt, unarmed, tried to fight back before being shot. Two suspects, Kemare Matthew Bryan, 18, and Chandler Zion Richardson, 19, both from Lawrenceville, were arrested in Anderson, South Carolina, and extradited to Georgia on multiple charges including malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. A third suspect, 19-year-old Kpadeh Jones of Lawrenceville, was later arrested and charged with malice murder.

Does anyone who knew Elijah or who has information about the parking lot confrontation or the days leading up to it have details to share?