Twin brothers from Georgia have been found shot dead on top of a remote mountain in the state, some 90 miles from home and hundreds more from Boston where they were supposed to be.
Qaadir and Naazir Lewis, both 19, from Lawrenceville near Atlanta, were discovered last weekend at the summit of Bell Mountain, a scenic but isolated peak in Towns County near the North Carolina border.
The twins had suffered fatal gunshot wounds before their bodies were found by a hiker.
But their grieving family is baffled as to what happened because they say the brothers were supposed to be on a plane to Boston to see their friends and instead were found dead in the rugged wilderness.
‘They’re very protective of each other. They love each other,’ said their uncle Rahim Brawner to 11Alive. ‘They’re were inseparable. I couldn’t imagine them hurting each other because I’ve never seen them get into a fistfight before.’
The twins had booked a 7am flight to Boston for Friday March 7 and had been excited to visit friends, but they never boarded their flight.
Just 24 hours later, they were found dead, with the family saying their plane tickets were still tucked inside their wallets.
‘How did they end up out in the mountains? They don’t hike out there; they’ve never been out there,’ said their aunt Samira Brawner.
Qaadir and Naazir Lewis, both 19, from Lawrenceville near Atlanta, were found shot dead at the summit of Bell Mountain, a scenic but isolated peak in Towns County near North Carolina
‘They’re very protective of each other. They love each other,’ their uncle Rahim Brawner said. ‘They’re were inseparable. I couldn’t imagine them hurting each other.’
The boys’ aunts and uncles desperate for some clarity as to how the teenagers died
‘They don’t know anything about Hiawassee, Georgia. They never even heard of Bell Mountain. So how did they end up right there?’
In a statement that has only deepened the family’s anguish, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) has indicated preliminary findings point to a murder-suicide – but the family is vehemently rejecting such findings.
The GBI confirmed autopsies have been completed, but said further forensic tests are still pending, leaving the official cause and manner of death unresolved.
‘We knew right away that wasn’t true,’ Samira said. ‘We want answers, we want to know exactly what happened to the twins.’
Another aunt, Yasmine Brawner, also shared the family’s disbelief.
‘They had a huge support system. We know them. They wouldn’t do anything like this. To say they did this to each other? No. Something happened in those mountains, and we want answers.’
To the family, the idea that one brother killed the other before turning the gun on himself is not only unimaginable but also entirely inconsistent with their relationship.
‘They came from a family of love, and twins wanted so much for their future – they had dreams of starting their very own clothing line,’ Yasmine shared on the GoFundMe page set up to cover funeral expenses for the pair.
Qaadir and Naazir Lewis, both 19, had been expected by their friends in Boston on the weekend their bodies were discovered
To the family, the idea that one brother killed the other before turning the gun on himself is not only unimaginable but also entirely inconsistent with their relationship
Although Bell Mountain is a well known tourist spot, family members say it’s not somewhere the brothers had ever mentioned or even visited before
he family are also confused by the location where the brothers were found, at the summit of Bell Mountain, a scenic but isolated peak in Towns County near the North Carolina border
The family are also confused by the location where the brothers were found.
Although Bell Mountain is a well known tourist spot, family members say it’s not somewhere the brothers had ever mentioned or even visited before.
The family have since made an emotional plea for anyone who may have seen the twins in the days leading up to their deaths to come forward.
‘Somebody knows something,’ Samira Brawner said.
‘They didn’t just walk up that mountain and die. Something happened to them.’
