Twin 19-year-old brothers were found shot to death on top of a Georgia mountain a day after missing a flight to Boston to visit friends — and their family is refusing to accept probers’ murder-suicide theory.
Qaadir and Naazir Lewis of Lawrenceville disappeared March 7 after missing their 7 a.m. flight, with the teens found dead by a hiker the next day at the summit of Bell Mountain near the North Carolina border.
Grieving uncle Rahim Brawner said the teens were inseparable and would never hurt each other, even as the Georgia Bureau of Investigations is treating the case as a murder-suicide.
“They’re very protective of each other. They love each other,” Brawner told local WXIA-TV on Friday of the brothers. “I couldn’t imagine them hurting each other because I’ve never seen them get into a fistfight before.”
The brothers’ aunt, Yasmin Brawner, said the teens also had a “huge support system” who they knew would have have helped them if there were signs of trouble or suicidal tendencies.
“We know them. They wouldn’t do anything like this,” Yasmine told the outlet. “To say they did this to each other? No. Something happened in those mountains, and we want answers.”
The aunt has since started a GoFundMe to help pay for her nephews’ funeral expenses. She noted that the twins had “dreams of starting their very own clothing line” in the future.”
The family said it has yet to hear answers on how Qaadir and Naazir traveled from the airport to Bell Mountain, saying the teens have never been there, nor are they known to hike.
The brothers’ bodies were found by a hiker around 11:05 a.m. March 8, with gunshot wounds on both their corpses.
Their family said the brothers were found with their plane tickets still inside their wallets.
The GBI said autopsies for the brothers have been completed but that officials are still waiting for additional forensic tests before issuing a final ruling on the cause of death.
Authorities did not name the brother they believe carried out the murder-suicide.