Renewal of the street shrine to Brandon Gant | 18th Street and Minnesota Avenue SE DC

This shrine to Brandon Gant has been kept up and considerably enlarged. It is on the busy Minnesota Avenue SE corridor of Washington DC. His family honors him and is searching for justice in his case. 

From a DC Police report: Detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department's Homicide Branch are investigating a homicide that occurred on Wednesday, September 6, 2023, at the intersection of 18th Street and Minnesota Avenue SE, Washington DC. At approximately 3:29 a.m., members of the Sixth District responded to the listed location for report of sounds of gunshots and a vehicle collision. Upon arrival, officers located an adult male shooting victim inside of a vehicle.  DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services responded to the scene and transported the victim to a local hospital, where he was admitted with life-threatening injuries.  On Friday, September 8, 2023, the victim succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead. The decedent has been identified as 23-year-old Brandon Gant of Southeast, DC.

From a WJLA-TV report: "...fliers went up to remind D.C. that 23-year-old Brandon Gant’s family is still waiting for answers two years after he was gunned down in the street at 18th Street and Minnesota Avenue SE in the Fairlawn neighborhood. That's where family and friends held a vigil Saturday afternoon. Only 7News sat down with Brandon's mother, who is pleading for help and justice in what detectives say was a case of mistaken identity. Gant was driving to get his mother’s allergy medication and to fill up her gas tank. Police said he was innocent and was mistaken for someone else when he was ambushed while driving his mother’s car. He was killed a week before his birthday.

Brandon was everything his mom raised him to be. His trophies and plaques still line the walls in her home. Brandon was an all-around athlete, a quarterback who also played soccer and rugby. In the winter, he went skiing and skating. However, Brandon was about more than sports. He graduated from high school early, with honors.

An uncontrollably emotional Taloria Gant spoke to 7News about the pain of the loss. “Two years today,” said Gant. “Today marks two years of heartache and pain. You see him one minute, then six hours later they say he’s gone.”

On September 6, 2023, she asked Brandon if he could go pick up her allergy medication and put gas in her car. “He said okay, mom, and that was it,” Gant said. “That’s when I got the call a couple of hours later. I don’t know if he ever made it to get the medicine,” she added. Police said Brandon was behind the wheel doing those errands when bullets from multiple weapons started spraying the car. Police said the shooters targeted the car, thinking Brandon was someone else. “It’s so hard going two years not to have a suspect, not to have anything,” she said. “For you to do what you did because you thought he was somebody else.”

Gant is hoping that all the extra law enforcement around the city right now might somehow lead to more information about what happened to her son. “This is a pain that I don’t want anybody to feel,” Gant said. “These are the shoes that I don’t want anybody to fit. This is a club that nobody wants to be involved in for the suspects; just turn yourself in. You know who you are. God knows who you are. I just don’t know who you are.” Gant holds a justice and peace walk every month for her son. She said she's desperately praying that the case doesn’t go cold and that one day she’ll be able to provide a headstone for her son. There have been no updates on suspects in Brandon’s murder.

I hope that the Gant family receives justice and closure, and is spared further grief.