A straight A student was killed in his car after hanging out with some friends playing video games on Thursday. According to Mail Online, Brendan Tevlin, 19, was shot and killed in a Jeep that he was driving (said to belong to a family member) in West Orange, New Jersey. The University of Richmond student was well liked, and didn’t have any known enemies. Police are investigating the case, as many desperately curious to learn who killed this bright young man. Despite not having many leads to go on, police do believe that Tevlin was targeted for one reason or another.
Chief of detectives for the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, Anthony Ambrose, said:
“At this juncture of the investigation it does not appear to be random.”
The straight A student killed reportedly texted his mother earlier in the evening to let her know that he was on his way home. Just the fact that Brendan checked in with his mom proves that he was a “good” kid. Usually at 19, people do their own thing and don’t really worry too much about letting mom or dad know their whereabouts — or when they will be heading back home.
The media interviewed quite a few people that knew Brendan, and all of them had wonderful things to say about him, making this tragedy even more baffling.
A friend of Tevlin said:
“We’re literally just reeling in this tragedy. This is so out of character. He was literally a good kid. No enemies — he always avoided controversy. The world lost a terrific kid.”
Tevlin and friends
The straight A student was killed in a pretty well-known area of New Jersey. While every town has its “bad” parts, it is unclear how close to said “bad” parts Brendan was when he was killed. His body was reportedly “riddled” with gunshot wounds, which pretty much negates the theory that he was killed by a stray bullet or by accident. According to The New York Daily News,“both the passenger’s and driver’s seat windows were shattered.” It does seem pretty clear that someone wanted Tevlin dead. But who?
Police are working diligently to identify possible suspects and make an arrest as soon as they can.
Shootings are happening more often than ever before. As previously reported by The Inquisitr, someone was shot and killed at a Pizza Hut in Detroit this week. The body of a 20-something-year-old male was found in the parking lot of the fast food eatery, also riddled with bullets. It is unclear whether or not an arrest has been made in that case.
