‘Feel like I’m dreaming’: Greensboro mom speaks out after son dies in crash

GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — Otisha Andrews can’t believe her son Brandon Bowie Jr. is gone.

Brandon, whose nickname was BJ, had just turned 14 on July 4. Andrews says he went to church often and loved to write music.

“Including his rapping lyrics into his journal that my mom gave him. My mom told him … ‘If you ever get too emotional, write in your journal,'” Andrews said.

Andrews moved her family from California to Greensboro nine months ago, and Brandon recently became best friends with Kenyan Saxton.

On Tuesday night, ​Andrews said the boys had told their mothers that they were having a sleepover at her place.

“I wasn’t aware of that … Teenagers make up lies and do teenager stuff,” Andrews said.

Around 2 a.m. on Wednesday, she realized her son was missing.

“So I said … ‘It’s summertime. Maybe he’s in the crawl space.’ I go outside to see if he’s in there, and he wasn’t in there,” Andrews said.

According to Greensboro police, around the same time that Andrews was looking for her son, an officer tried to pull over a vehicle full of teenagers after spotting them going the wrong way on West Market Street

They didn’t stop. A few minutes later, they were involved in a crash that killed all three teenagers, including Brandon and Kenyan, and injured one police officer.

Andrews says she doesn’t know whose vehicle the teens used but encourages others who are listening to Brandon’s story to learn from it. ​​

“I feel like I’m dreaming. I moved my kids over here from California because of the gang violence and all the trouble happening over there thinking I made the right decision, and then this happened to my baby,” Andrews said.

Kenyan’s mother says there will be a balloon release to honor the three teens on July 27 at Hairston Middle School from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Greensboro police also confirmed the officer involved in the crash is out of the hospital.

We’ve also asked police who owned the vehicle involved in the crash. They’ve refused to answer our questions.

If you would like to help cover funeral expenses, the family has a GoFundMe you can donate to.

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