Brandon Paul Sullivan, a 17-year-old White male from Gastonia, North Carolina, was a recent graduate of Hunter Huss High School who was killed just one week before his 18th birthday. His family was left devastated by the sudden and violent loss. "I'm glad they've been charged," his father, Mike Sullivan, said of the suspects. "But there are still more questions, still a lot that needs to be known...
What's been taken can never be replaced."
The fatal encounter took place on February 27, 2025. Brandon was a passenger in a car with another man, and they had arranged to meet someone to buy vape cartridges. According to prosecutors, the meeting was an ambush. The occupants of the car were robbed by multiple people. During the assault, the other man was pistol-whipped, and Brandon was shot in the head. He died at the scene.
An investigation by the Gaston County Police led to charges against four individuals. The first to be arrested was Moises Pena-Gonzalez, an 18-year-old schoolmate of Brandon's. He was charged with first-degree murder but told police he fled the scene and only heard the gunshot as he ran. A second teen, 17-year-old Jamony Kennedy, was also charged with first-degree murder after being arrested for an unrelated robbery. According to search warrants, investigators did not believe either Pena-Gonzalez or Kennedy pulled the trigger. Later, a grand jury indicted two more suspects, 17-year-old Nikolas Gerhedt Bennett and 20-year-old Diontaye Tashown Jones, on the same charge of first-degree murder.
In the midst of their grief, Brandon's family was faced with a painful discovery. When the Hunter Huss High School yearbook was released, they saw that Moises Pena-Gonzalez, the first person charged in Brandon's murder, was featured in the superlatives section as one of the "Biggest Flirts." Brandon's sister, Taylor Ramsey, spoke out about the family's outrage, and they demanded a public apology from the school.
All four men—Moises Pena-Gonzalez, Jamony Kennedy, Nikolas Gerhedt Bennett, and Diontaye Tashown Jones—were charged with first-degree murder. As of May 2025, their cases were proceeding through the North Carolina court system.
