Brandon Paul Sullivan was a 17-year-old recent graduate of Hunter Huss High School in Gastonia, North Carolina, who was killed on February 27, 2025, one week before his 18th birthday. He was riding as a passenger with another man when they met someone to buy vape cartridges. Prosecutors say the meeting was an ambush: occupants of the car were robbed by multiple people, the other man was pistol-whipped, and Brandon was shot in the head and died at the scene.

Gaston County Police arrested four people in connection with the killing. The first arrest was 18-year-old Moises Pena-Gonzalez, a schoolmate who was charged with first-degree murder but told police he fled and only heard the gunshot as he ran. Seventeen-year-old Jamony Kennedy was charged with first-degree murder after a separate arrest for an unrelated robbery; search warrants indicate investigators did not believe Pena-Gonzalez or Kennedy fired the fatal shot. A grand jury later indicted 17-year-old Nikolas Gerhedt Bennett and 20-year-old Diontaye Tashown Jones on first-degree murder charges as well. As of May 2025, the cases were proceeding through the North Carolina court system.

The family discovered Pena-Gonzalez pictured in the Hunter Huss yearbook superlatives as one of the Biggest Flirts, which prompted public outrage from Brandon’s sister, Taylor Ramsey, and a demand for a school apology. If anyone has information about the February 27 meeting or the robbery-ambush, please share what is known.