Fifteen-year-old Branden Gerena was shot and killed behind a gas station on Thompson Mill Road in Buford, Georgia, after midnight on July 1, 2019. He and a friend had just finished their freshman year at Buford High School and were in the rear of the station when a single gunshot struck Branden in the head. He was taken to a local hospital and later died.

Investigators say the teens were at the gas station to sell marijuana when two men arrived to rob them. Surveillance video shows the pair in front of the station before they moved to an unmonitored area out back. The suspect who fired was described as a Black man in his 20s wearing blue jeans, a black jacket with red lettering, and a backward baseball hat; he fled with Branden’s backpack and the marijuana.

Within days authorities arrested 21-year-old Denzel Wilburn of Buford on charges including armed robbery and conspiracy, accused of being the getaway driver. Warrants were issued for 20-year-old Savion Nathaniel Dillard of Jonesboro on felony murder, armed robbery, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and aggravated assault; he was captured by the U.S. Marshals Task Force in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on July 16 and was to be returned to Georgia to face those charges.

If anyone knew Branden, witnessed the incident, or has information about the events that night, please come forward.