Someone shot and killed Brandon Gant last year in D.C. while he was out buying medication for his mother.
His family and friends gathered for a vigil Sunday in the hopes of making sure his murder is not forgotten.
The 23-year-old was driving in the 1800 block of Minnesota Avenue in Southeast D.C. Police say he was an innocent victim, apparently caught in crossfire while running errands for his mother.
The crime remains unsolved.
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The family observed a year since Gant's death by calling for justice for their loved one.
His mother, Toloria Gant, was unconsolable as strains of Brandon Gant’s favorite song played at his gravesite.
“A major incident like that and don’t nobody know nothing,” she said. “That’s crazy.”
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The best lead police had was a picture of a suspect vehicle, but after a year, that evidence hasn’t led to an arrest.
“Somebody saw it, and I know they saw it,” his mother said.
She says her son wasn’t involved in the streets, that he was a selfless and hard-working young man who put others before himself. That's what he was doing the day he was killed: Picking up allergy medication and gassing up his mother's car.
“But I don’t know if he ever made it,” she said.
She does know the dangers that surrounded her son and other mothers’ sons, even those walking the right path, especially when that path takes them to the increasingly notorious Minnesota Avenue
“Even before Brandon, I’m like it’s too many accidents, too much crime down here,” she said. “You got so many speed cameras all over the city, you can catch a tag a mile away but you can’t catch a crime."
The family released doves at the gravesite as symbols of hope and peace — peace from the violence that took Brandon Gant and the continuing hope that his killer is brought to justice.
“It don’t matter how long it’s going to take,” his mother said. “I want justice for my son, Brandon. He didn’t deserve this.”
