A 42-year-old firefighter from Georgia, Scott Kerlin, was fired and charged with misdemeanor obstruction after taking gruesome pictures of two brothers' dead bodies and sharing them publicly. Hikers found the bodies of twins Qaadir and Naazir Lewis on March 8. Authorities believe they died in a murder-suicide.
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According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), Kerlin, who was a volunteer firefighter in Towns County, was charged with misdemeanor obstruction after taking photos of the twins after their bodies were found by hikers "at the top of Bell Mountain."
As reported by 11 Alive, the Towns County Commissioner, Cliff Bradshaw, confirmed that Scott Kerlin was fired on March 14 for violating department protocol. He posted his bond and is now out of jail, as per the outlet. Authorities did not charge Kerlin in direct connection to the deaths of the Lewis brothers.
Twin Deaths
The GBI revealed that hikers found the bodies of Qaadir Malik Lewis and Naazir Rahim Lewis on Saturday, March 8, at around 11:05 a.m. They both sustained gunshot wounds. A preliminary investigation reveals that their deaths stem from a murder-suicide. The medical examiner has not released its ruling despite performing autopsies, pending additional forensic testing. Moreover, no information is available on who allegedly carried out the suspected murder.
The twins' family, however, heavily dispute this claim. At the time, they believed that the Lewis twins were in Boston visiting friends. They were supposed to fly to Boston on Friday, March 7, at around 7 a.m. However, they never made it to the flight.
"We're just trying to figure out what happened," Samira Brawner, the twins' aunt, told WSBTV. "We're trying put pieces together to understand. How did they end out in the mountains? They don't hike out there. They have never been out there."
Similarly, the twins' uncle, Rahim Brawner, does not believe that they would hurt each other. "I can't imagine them hurting each other because I've never even seen them get into a fistfight before," he told the outlet. "Murder-suicide? I just believe that they were extremely incapable of that."
"They had a huge support system. We know them. They wouldn't do anything like this," Yasmine added. "To say they did this to each other? No. Something happened in those mountains, and we want answers."
The Lewis twins' deaths remain under investigation.
