In the early morning of December 15, 2020, 15-year-old Jafar Brooks was found dead in the 1900 block of Garden Drive in Penn Hills. Police say an SUV was stopped with its passenger door ajar; Jafar was lying face down with a fatal gunshot wound to his neck and was pronounced dead at the scene just before 1 a.m. Investigators described the killing as not random, saying surveillance footage showed the SUV stop, three males surround Jafar, a struggle, and gunshots. The video reportedly captured Jafar trying to re-enter the passenger side as the suspects fled and one of them fired two more shots at the vehicle. His grandfather, community activist Rashad Byrdsong, identified him.

In October 2021 police arrested 17-year-old Timothy Whitfield Jr. after searching his home and recovering spent shell casings; ballistics linked a casing to the scene and fingerprints from the vehicle tied him to the case. He was charged with criminal homicide, robbery, conspiracy, and possession of a firearm by a minor. Whitfield pleaded guilty in October 2023 to third-degree murder, robbery, and conspiracy and received a 7½ to 15 year sentence under a plea agreement. Jafar was a freshman football player at Central Catholic High School, which posthumously honored him at what would have been his graduation ceremony in 2024.

Are there readers who remember Jafar or who have information about the night he was killed?