Sixteen-year-old Zeppelin Phillips was shot and killed on the evening of Saturday, August 31, 2024, in the Hermitage neighborhood of Tennessee. Neighbors heard multiple gunshots around 6:30 p.m.; Phillips was found in the roadway on Hallborough Way with gunshot wounds to his neck and chest and was later pronounced dead at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He was a junior at Templeton Academy, active on the yearbook committee, passionate about film studies and music, and worked at Wendy’s.

Investigators say Phillips had been communicating with 18-year-old Raphael Jobehdari about purchasing a firearm and had sent him money. On September 1, SWAT executed a search warrant at Jobehdari’s home on Carl Miller Drive, seizing three firearms and impounding the vehicle Phillips had approached before the shooting. Jobehdari was taken into custody and charged with Phillips’s murder. Reports note Jobehdari had previously been involved in a fatal January 31 shooting in Bellevue in which another 18-year-old, Gavin Dauzart, died after an exchange of gunfire.

Did anyone in Hermitage see Zeppelin that evening or have information about the transaction he was arranging?