Who was Brandon Webber, the Memphis Man Shot and Killed by U.S. Marshals?
Desiree Stennett
Memphis Commercial Appeal
6:05 p.m. CT June 13, 2019
Quintasia Turner, a friend of Brandon Webber, reacted to Wednesday's shooting. Phillip Jackson, The Commercial Appeal
For three years in high school, Brandon Webber was a member of an organization called Facing History and Ourselves.
While enrolled at Central High School, he would visit other schools and host "teach-ins" to talk to other students about important topics like the Holocaust, race in America and immigration.
That was how Ema Wagner, 20, a graduate from White Station High School, met him.
"We worked closely together in the program our sophomore and junior year," Wagner said. "He was such a good leader. He was so free-spirited and easygoing. He could just talk to anyone. ... He made everyone feel a part, and he didn't ever leave anyone out."
Webber, 20, was shot to death by U.S. Marshals on Wednesday night in Memphis' Frayser neighborhood.
According to the U.S. Marshals Service, their officers were attempting to serve an arrest warrant for multiple felonies on Webber when they saw him getting into a car outside a home on Durham Avenue.
"In response to a threat posed by the subject, members of the task force fired their weapons, striking and killing him," a statement from the Marshals Service said.
At a news conference Thursday afternoon, DeSoto County District Attorney John Champion said Webber went to Hernando on June 3 under the guise of purchasing a car from a man he met on Facebook.
He was accused of shooting the man five times and stealing the car. The U.S. Marshals were attempting to arrest him on charges of armed robbery, aggravated assault and conspiracy to commit armed robbery.
"The Marshals were dealing with a violent suspect," Champion said. "I wish people would sit back and see what happened. It wasn’t something where they shot up into Memphis to find someone and this occurred. He was a violent felon that did not want to go to jail. He had no appreciation for the value of human life so the Marshals Service knew that when they went into it."
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said Webber was accused of ramming his vehicle into the officers' vehicles multiple times before getting out of the car with a weapon. No officers were injured, and officials have not said what kind of weapon Webber may have had.
The investigation is ongoing.
Raw video of police and people gathered on Kingsley Avenue in Memphis after an officer-involved shooting. Phillip Jackson, The Commercial Appeal
'I immediately broke down and cried'
Wagner had not seen Webber since high school.
She had not seen the news reports. She didn't know of Webber's death until she got a call from a chaplain at Rhodes College who heard she might know Webber and reached out to see how she was handling the news, she said.
Her memory of the "gentle and goofy" Webber didn't fit with the description of the man officials described.
"I immediately broke down and cried," she said. "He was so young, you know, and he had a daughter. I just can't imagine how this could happen."
An event was held for Webber at his former high school Thursday afternoon. Shelby County Schools officials said extra security and grief counselors were sent to the school to talk with anyone who needed assistance.
“My heart is broken over the news regarding the death of Brandon Webber," Central High School Principal Greg McCullough said in a written statement. "Brandon worked hard during his time at Central where he graduated in 2017. I remember that he was a very talented art student. He seemed to really love his experience at Central High and he engaged well with others. My prayers go out to the Webber family during this devastating time.”
Quantasia Turner, 19, a close friend of Webber's, attended Thursday's gathering.
"It's unbelievable because this is a person who made an impact on a lot of people, not negatively, not bad," Turner said. "He always had a good spirit. So for this to happen to a person that we were close to, who we knew the character of this person, it don't make sense."
Mary McIntosh was Webber's history teacher in ninth and 10th grades and continued to work with him in the Facing History program until he graduated. She said he was an honor student. She woke up to the news of his death in a text from a former student Thursday morning. She said it shocked her.
"He was an excellent student," she said. "For me, he was the kind of student a teacher could count on to be disciplined and focused."
She went on to say that Webber had the ability to learn about an event in history and think critically to see how the lessons could apply to the present and that he often led thoughtful classroom discussions.
"We are all larger and better people than the worst things we ever do," McIntosh said, quoting Bryan Stevenson, attorney and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, who she said inspired Webber's passion for social justice. "It's really important that the Brandon I knew is celebrated because that was a really, really important part of who he was in my view.
"When we look at anyone's life, we need to look at all aspects of them. Brandon was kind, intelligent and funny. Brandon was a wonderful person to be with."
A GoFundMe page was created Thursday to raise money to pay for Webber's funeral, create a fund for his children and pay off any student loans Webber may have accumulated while in college.
About an hour before his death, Webber posted a live video on Facebook.
It showed him driving around a Memphis neighborhood, talking to people on the street, rapping along to songs on the radio and talking about how he needed someone to help him clear his head after a stressful day.
In the video Webber was smoking and stopped to give a man who stopped him something from a green bag. He laughs at one person who asked him to stop and buy some Honey Gold hot wings then talked about how he didn't like to go out with another friend too often because that person liked to spend too much money and stay out too late.
"If you go out with Bull, you (are going to) spend $2,000 and you not going home till 6 in the morning," he said in the video, which is no longer visible on his Facebook page. "I be tired. I got kids. I'm trying to go lay down with my son."
Turner doesn't want Webber to be judged by this video or pictures that show him holding wads of cash on his social media accounts.
"Pictures are pictures," she said. "You come from a certain place and that's something you know, but when you want to grow, you do what you have to do to make sure you grow. You surpass that."
While little is known about Webber's interaction with U.S. Marshals on Wednesday, public records show Webber has faced charges twice before. In 2017, he faced misdemeanor gun charges after Memphis police found a gun in a car he was riding in during a traffic stop. Webber was not the driver, and his charges were later dismissed.
About a year later, he was arrested again, this time on felony drug charges when police found about 13 grams of marijuana in a car he was driving. Prosecutors later dropped those charges, court records show.
Commercial Appeal reporter Phillip Jackson contributed to this report. Desiree Stennett can be reached at desiree.stennett@commercialappeal.com, 901-529-2738 or on Twitter: @desi_stennett.
Memphis Commercial Appeal
6:05 p.m. CT June 13, 2019
Quintasia Turner, a friend of Brandon Webber, reacted to Wednesday's shooting. Phillip Jackson, The Commercial Appeal
For three years in high school, Brandon Webber was a member of an organization called Facing History and Ourselves.
While enrolled at Central High School, he would visit other schools and host "teach-ins" to talk to other students about important topics like the Holocaust, race in America and immigration.
That was how Ema Wagner, 20, a graduate from White Station High School, met him.
"We worked closely together in the program our sophomore and junior year," Wagner said. "He was such a good leader. He was so free-spirited and easygoing. He could just talk to anyone. ... He made everyone feel a part, and he didn't ever leave anyone out."
Webber, 20, was shot to death by U.S. Marshals on Wednesday night in Memphis' Frayser neighborhood.
According to the U.S. Marshals Service, their officers were attempting to serve an arrest warrant for multiple felonies on Webber when they saw him getting into a car outside a home on Durham Avenue.
"In response to a threat posed by the subject, members of the task force fired their weapons, striking and killing him," a statement from the Marshals Service said.
At a news conference Thursday afternoon, DeSoto County District Attorney John Champion said Webber went to Hernando on June 3 under the guise of purchasing a car from a man he met on Facebook.
He was accused of shooting the man five times and stealing the car. The U.S. Marshals were attempting to arrest him on charges of armed robbery, aggravated assault and conspiracy to commit armed robbery.
"The Marshals were dealing with a violent suspect," Champion said. "I wish people would sit back and see what happened. It wasn’t something where they shot up into Memphis to find someone and this occurred. He was a violent felon that did not want to go to jail. He had no appreciation for the value of human life so the Marshals Service knew that when they went into it."
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said Webber was accused of ramming his vehicle into the officers' vehicles multiple times before getting out of the car with a weapon. No officers were injured, and officials have not said what kind of weapon Webber may have had.
The investigation is ongoing.
Raw video of police and people gathered on Kingsley Avenue in Memphis after an officer-involved shooting. Phillip Jackson, The Commercial Appeal
'I immediately broke down and cried'
Wagner had not seen Webber since high school.
She had not seen the news reports. She didn't know of Webber's death until she got a call from a chaplain at Rhodes College who heard she might know Webber and reached out to see how she was handling the news, she said.
Her memory of the "gentle and goofy" Webber didn't fit with the description of the man officials described.
"I immediately broke down and cried," she said. "He was so young, you know, and he had a daughter. I just can't imagine how this could happen."
An event was held for Webber at his former high school Thursday afternoon. Shelby County Schools officials said extra security and grief counselors were sent to the school to talk with anyone who needed assistance.
“My heart is broken over the news regarding the death of Brandon Webber," Central High School Principal Greg McCullough said in a written statement. "Brandon worked hard during his time at Central where he graduated in 2017. I remember that he was a very talented art student. He seemed to really love his experience at Central High and he engaged well with others. My prayers go out to the Webber family during this devastating time.”
Quantasia Turner, 19, a close friend of Webber's, attended Thursday's gathering.
"It's unbelievable because this is a person who made an impact on a lot of people, not negatively, not bad," Turner said. "He always had a good spirit. So for this to happen to a person that we were close to, who we knew the character of this person, it don't make sense."
Mary McIntosh was Webber's history teacher in ninth and 10th grades and continued to work with him in the Facing History program until he graduated. She said he was an honor student. She woke up to the news of his death in a text from a former student Thursday morning. She said it shocked her.
"He was an excellent student," she said. "For me, he was the kind of student a teacher could count on to be disciplined and focused."
She went on to say that Webber had the ability to learn about an event in history and think critically to see how the lessons could apply to the present and that he often led thoughtful classroom discussions.
"We are all larger and better people than the worst things we ever do," McIntosh said, quoting Bryan Stevenson, attorney and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, who she said inspired Webber's passion for social justice. "It's really important that the Brandon I knew is celebrated because that was a really, really important part of who he was in my view.
"When we look at anyone's life, we need to look at all aspects of them. Brandon was kind, intelligent and funny. Brandon was a wonderful person to be with."
A GoFundMe page was created Thursday to raise money to pay for Webber's funeral, create a fund for his children and pay off any student loans Webber may have accumulated while in college.
About an hour before his death, Webber posted a live video on Facebook.
It showed him driving around a Memphis neighborhood, talking to people on the street, rapping along to songs on the radio and talking about how he needed someone to help him clear his head after a stressful day.
In the video Webber was smoking and stopped to give a man who stopped him something from a green bag. He laughs at one person who asked him to stop and buy some Honey Gold hot wings then talked about how he didn't like to go out with another friend too often because that person liked to spend too much money and stay out too late.
"If you go out with Bull, you (are going to) spend $2,000 and you not going home till 6 in the morning," he said in the video, which is no longer visible on his Facebook page. "I be tired. I got kids. I'm trying to go lay down with my son."
Turner doesn't want Webber to be judged by this video or pictures that show him holding wads of cash on his social media accounts.
"Pictures are pictures," she said. "You come from a certain place and that's something you know, but when you want to grow, you do what you have to do to make sure you grow. You surpass that."
While little is known about Webber's interaction with U.S. Marshals on Wednesday, public records show Webber has faced charges twice before. In 2017, he faced misdemeanor gun charges after Memphis police found a gun in a car he was riding in during a traffic stop. Webber was not the driver, and his charges were later dismissed.
About a year later, he was arrested again, this time on felony drug charges when police found about 13 grams of marijuana in a car he was driving. Prosecutors later dropped those charges, court records show.
Commercial Appeal reporter Phillip Jackson contributed to this report. Desiree Stennett can be reached at desiree.stennett@commercialappeal.com, 901-529-2738 or on Twitter: @desi_stennett.
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