Brendon Layne was 28 when he was shot dead the night of July 2, 2018, in the Western Heights neighborhood of Knoxville, Tennessee. Officers found him on the street behind his vehicle with a fatal gunshot wound. The shooting occurred during a summer night that left the community reeling.

Knoxville Police investigators quickly developed a lead. An officer saw a vehicle leaving the area driven by someone who matched witnesses’ descriptions and took that driver, William Anthony Young Jr., into custody after a brief attempt to flee. Young was booked on charges of reckless driving, evading arrest and drug possession, but those charges were unrelated to the homicide and he was later released. The investigation into who shot Layne remained open, and the case was one of Knoxville’s unsolved homicides from 2018.

If anyone knew Brendon, saw activity in Western Heights on July 2, 2018, or has information about this shooting, please come forward to help the family and investigators.