High School Football Player Found Dead Day Before Championship Game Was Shot and Left in Woods

The Georgia high school football player found dead the day before his team was due to play its first state championship in 25 years was found in woodland after being shot multiple times, his family has revealed.

The body of Brandon Smith, 17, was found in a wooded area less than one mile from the local police station on Saturday, two days after he failed to return home, his grandparents told 11 Alive News.

“I’m not gonna rest until they catch the killer who killed my grandson,” said his grandmother, Maxine Smith, who raised the teen since he was an infant.

She said she first became concerned when the athlete, who dreamed of playing in the NFL, failed to return home Thursday night.

“I woke up Friday morning and I knew he was gone,” she said.

“So I’m up, kept calling his cellphone, couldn’t find him, couldn’t find him, so I called the school.”

Smith was reported missing shortly after, and on Saturday Manchester High School football coach Stephen Holmes gave the bad news to his family.

His body was found a day before his team played the Georgia 1-A State Football Championship on Sunday. His teammates held up his No. 52 jersey as they walked onto the field.

Manchester Police Chief Gray Couch said his department received a call from someone “reporting what they believed to be a dead person behind a residence.

“My officers responded to the location to find a black male with no signs of life behind a residence in a thick, wooded area,” he told Newsweek.

“Because foul play is suspected, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation was called in and is taking the lead in the investigation.”

So far, no suspects have been arrested, 11 Alive News said.

“His game, all his teammates — football was his everything,” his grieving grandma told 11 Alive.

“And he wanted to make it, but his life was cut short.”

The teen never caused any problems before his killer “took his dream from him,” his grandfather told WTVM.

Following Brandon’s death, Meriwether Schools Superintendent Robert Griffin and Manchester High School principal Suze Neal wrote a letter to the community.

“We are heartbroken to hear the news of the tragic and untimely death of one of our student-athletes, Brandon Smith,” they said.

Read the full story here.

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