A volunteer firefighter has been charged with obstruction, accused of taking photos of teenage twin brothers found dead with gunshot wounds on a Georgia mountain earlier this month.
Scott Kerlin, 42, of Hiawassee, was charged with misdemeanor obstruction after he allegedly took photos of the bodies of 19-year-old twin brothers Qaadir Malik Lewis and Naazir Rahim Lewis and shared them publicly, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced Tuesday.
Read also:
- Minnesota state senator is accused of soliciting a minor for prostitution
- USMNT vs Panama: Kick-off time and where to watch the 2025 Concacaf Nations League semi-final
- Brittany Mahomes’ post-pregnancy workout photo has Patrick and fans going nuts
- Trump Administration Considers Scaling Back H.I.V. Efforts at C.D.C.
- With Orders, Investigations and Innuendo, Trump and G.O.P. Aim to Cripple the Left
The bodies of the teens, who are from Lawrenceville, were found by hikers at the top of Bell Mountain in Hiawassee, the morning of Saturday, March 8. The mountain is located about 90 miles from their home.
Authorities have said the deaths are a murder-suicide, according to the preliminary investigation. However, the Lewis family has vehemently disputed that claim, saying the boys were inseparable, never got into fistfights and were not familiar with Bell Mountain.
“How did they end up out in the mountains? They don’t hike out there; they’ve never been out there,” Samira Brawner previously told WXIA. “They don’t know anything about Hiawassee, Georgia. They never even heard of Bell Mountain, so how did they end up right there?”
It’s not clear exactly how Kerlin, a volunteer firefighter in Towns County, shared the photo of the crime scene.
However, the photo was shared among students, the Towns County Schools Superintendent Darren Berrong said.
Berrong said in a statement to NBC affiliate WXIA of Atlanta that the district was made aware that “a crime scene photo had been shared with some of our students on Monday.”
The district launched an investigation and “took appropriate measures to ensure the photo was no longer in the possession of any student.” The students involved were “unaware of the illegal nature of how the photo was distributed,” he said.
Autopsies on the bodies were completed but an official ruling on the cause of manner and death is pending addition forensic testing.
Samira Brawner, the twins’ aunt, said she’s now terrified to go online for fear of seeing the photo.
“It’s scary. I’m literally scared to go on social media. I’m scared to pick up my phone because I know if I see that picture, I already know I’ll have a heart attack,” she told WXIA.
“Just imagine if their mother sees that — like, that would really destroy her. She’s already going through a lot,” Yasmine Brawner, another aunt of the twins told the station.
The twins’ uncle Rahim Brawner, who has worked as a first responder for more than 10 years, said: “We know that’s one of the number one rules is not to take pictures and share them.”
The Georgia Bureau of Investigations assisting the Towns County Sheriff’s Office in the death investigation.
Marlene Lenthang is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.
