ATLANTA — A graduation ceremony Saturday in Midtown Atlanta will be bittersweet.
Approximately 100 students will graduate from the Year Up computer training program.
DeKalb County resident Brian Walton will be one of them, but his brother, Johnathan, will not be by his side as planned.
DeKalb County police say a driver hit Johnathan Walton along Thompson Mill Road on Labor Day weekend in 2015.
Police say the driver did not stop and Walton died two days later.
"It's sad because I want him to be here with me so we could graduate together, but he's not, so I'm doing it for him," Brian Walton said.
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Walton’s brother and mother say they think about Johnathan every day, especially this weekend.
"I'm proud of him. I just wish that his brother was here with him, more for him than me because I know how close they were and I know how it has affected him," said Walton’s mother, Marilyn.
Brian Walton says he stayed motivated in school because of his brother, but it hasn’t been easy.
“Sometimes I just have my moments and I start crying because it still hurts because I want him here with me,” he said.
Walton is planning to honor his brother during Saturday’s graduation ceremony.
"I will be doing a speech, and it's going to be for my brother. I just want to let everyone know why when I was in that program I never gave up," said Brian Walton.
Marilyn Walton says her son Brian’s success has helped her stay strong, but she and her family still need the driver to come forward.
"If you kill a person, it sticks with you. You can't just drop that. So I know it's sticking with them so free your mind up. Free up a family and move on with your life," said Marilyn Walton.
A witness told police a white car hit Walton, but other than that, investigators don’t have many other details.
If you have any information about the case, you’re urged to call DeKalb County police.
Meanwhile, three other students in this weekend’s Year Up graduating class died in the past year.
Organizers plan to honor the lives of the students they lost.
The graduation ceremony is scheduled for Saturday from 10 a.m.- noon at the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center.