DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A local family is desperate for justice after a hit-and-run driver killed their loved one who was only 15 years old.
Quartez Mender was hit and killed by a driver along Flat Shoals Road early Wednesday morning, and the driver took off.
His family told Channel 2′s Tyisha Fernandes they believe more than one person witnessed the incident.
“A human being, you know, you hit him, you hit something. You heard that,” said Malaika Kulenga, Mender’s mother.
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Kulenga said she doesn’t understand how anyone can hit a person and just keep going.
“They hit him and left him like a dog. He died on the street,” Kulenga said.
Police said Mender, who was short in stature, was standing on Flat Shoals Road in Decatur early around 2 a.m. Wednesday when the driver crashed into him.
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His mother told Fernandes that she was at work and her son was supposed to be home.
“Just like adolescence, they go through things, you know? He had started rebelling a little bit, but he didn’t deserve this,” Kulenga said.
Mender’s grandmother told Fernandes that he wanted to be a lawyer and they always talked about what he needed to do to reach that goal.
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Now, those dreams are shattered, and she has to help her daughter plan a funeral.
“They are supposed to bury me and now I have to bury my grandson. That hurts a lot,” the grandmother said.
If anyone has any information on this case, they are urged to contact the DeKalb County Traffic Specialist Unit at 770-724-7610 or Crime Stoppers at 404-577-TIPS.
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