Justin Taylor was a 15-year-old student at Austin-East Magnet High School in Knoxville, Tennessee. He ran a lawn care business, made rap music, and was looking forward to graduating in 2024. His parents remembered him as full of life.

On the night of January 27, 2021, Justin was seated in the front seat of a car when a 17-year-old friend in the back was handling a handgun he had bought illegally. Court records say the teen had removed the magazine and was pulling on the slide when his finger hit the trigger; a round left in the chamber fired and struck Justin in the back. The car was then driven to the Western Heights Baptist Center parking lot, where Justin was found deceased.

Knoxville police arrested the 17-year-old and charged him in juvenile court; the case later moved to adult court. In March 2021 he pleaded guilty to reckless homicide and unlawful possession of a weapon, and in April 2021 a judge placed him on four years of supervised probation under judicial diversion. Does anyone have information about Justin or that night that could help clarify what happened?