GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — The mother of a star football player who was shot and killed in a mall parking lot earlier this week said she does not think her son knew his killers.
Elijah DeWitt, 18, was shot and killed as he walked out of a Dave & Buster’s at Sugarloaf Mill Mall on Wednesday night.
DeWitt was a star football player who was a senior at Jefferson High School in Jackson County.
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Two Gwinnett County teenagers, 19-year-old Chandler Richardson and 18-year-old and Kemare Bryan, were arrested in Anderson, South Carolina, days after the shooting. They are now facing murder charges.
Channel 2′s Elizabeth Rawlins talked to DeWitt’s mother, Dawn DeWitt, who said that, though police initially said her son knew his killer, she now thinks he was a random victim.
“I wish we could say there was a fight or something like that, but he was just at the wrong place at the wrong time,” DeWitt said. “I talked to the detective today, and he was not friends with them.”
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DeWitt said her son was enjoying his fall break and spending the time with family and friends when he was killed. She said that on Wednesday night, he had practice, played golf and then went to play games at Dave & Buster’s.
“I felt like it was so great he got to spend time with all of us,” DeWitt said. “I miss him so much. If I could just have one more day.”
Police said they are still investigating what led up to the shooting.
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