Teen, who graduated high school Friday, shot to death in NW Atlanta

ATLANTA — A teenager was shot and killed in northwest Atlanta on Wednesday morning, just days after graduating from high school.

Channel 2's Tyisha Fernandes learned 18-year-old Joshua Torrance was found with a gunshot wound to the back at his apartment complex in the 2000 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive around 10:45 a.m.

Torrance was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital in critical condition and later died.

Fernandes spoke with the victim's family, who said the teen had just graduated from B.E.S.T. Academy on Friday and was headed to college to study engineering.

"I just pray to God for my nephew. If I could trade places with him I would," Brian Keith Williams said.

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Williams is Torrance's uncle, and he told Channel 2 Action News his heart is broken. On Friday, he watched his nephew graduate. The teen was accepted to Albany State University.

"The man was smart, intelligent, worked hard, saved his money, got almost $50,000 in grants going to school," Williams said.

The teen was left behind a shed after being shot. Witnesses told police Torrance argued with the shooter before the shots were fired.

Torrance's family cannot imagine who would have done this to their loved one.

"He was a good kid. He stayed to himself. He wasn't with no drama. You know what I'm saying? He was getting ready to go to school and then this happened," Williams said.

The shooter is still at large. Police are trying to identify the person responsible by what witnesses said and what they saw on surveillance video. The person of interest is described as a black male wearing a black hoodie, light shorts, and flip-flops.

The victim's uncle said some people were jealous of Torrance, and he believes that played a role in his nephew's murder.

"He knows how to walk away, and that's obviously what he was doing, walking away, shot in the back," Williams said.

Cox Media Group