On the afternoon of September 4, 2017, a dispute over a drug debt in Indian Head, Maryland, ended in a fatal shooting. Thirty-nine-year-old Robert Tywaughn Branson confronted 35-year-old acquaintance Brian Douglas Pierce outside Pierce’s home on Port Tobacco Road. Pierce left, tried to get a firearm from his father’s nearby house, then returned with a shotgun.

Branson ran but suffered a fatal gunshot wound to his arm and lung and identified Pierce before dying. Carroll survived and was taken to hospital in serious condition. Pierce fled but surrendered the next morning and was charged in Branson’s death.

Anyone with information about Robert Branson or the events that day is asked to come forward.