LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — A police investigation is now underway into a southern Indiana business and its promise to give the proceeds from a T-shirt fundraiser to the family of the 18-year-old boy who was shot and killed at Harvest Homecoming last year.
It’s the shirt everyone was wearing on Senior Night in honor of Bryce Gerlach on Oct. 18, 2024.
“The amount of love and people showing up for the Gerlachs was astonishing,” Brandy Ayers, who bought one of the shirts, said.
The T-shirt, in Bryce’s favorite color blue, says “Forever in Our Hearts” and were created by Tower’s Tees.
Gerlach, a student at Corydon Central High School, was an innocent bystander who was shot and killed at Harvest Homecoming in New Albany in October.
“So many people. People that didn’t know Bryce. People that were close to the Gerlachs, just in a small town when something like that happens, it affects everybody,” Ayers said.
Ayers, who has a daughter at Corydon Central, said when tragedy strikes, the community wants to help any way it can.
One way was with T-shirt and sweatshirt fundraisers from Tower’s Tees.
“When she promoted the shirt, she had stated that all proceeds from these shirts was going to go to the Gerlach family,” Ayers said.
Because of that, she said a lot of people supported the business.
“The game was a blue out game (on Senior Night),” Ayers said. “And the stands were full of everybody wearing these shirts. From little kids to senior citizens. I mean everybody had the shirt on.”
But now, Tower’s Tees is being accused of only giving a fraction of those profits to Bryce’s family.
“It’s horrible,” Ayers said. “I mean to play on Bryce’s death, to benefit yourself, its disgusting. And I can speak for the whole community – everybody’s outraged, saddened. Its’ just, we don’t understand how someone can do that.”
The Harrison County Sheriff’s office has now launched an investigation into Tower’s Tees regarding the T-shirt sales, which were $20 each.
WDRB went to both storefront properties, one in Corydon and in Salem to ask about the allegations, but both stores were closed. The company’s Facebook page was paused Monday night.
“She needs to do the right thing,” Ayers said. “If she has nothing to hide and there’s no money missing, then give it to the Gerlachs like she said she was going to.”
An attorney for Tower’s Tees said he’s submitted a response to the investigation by the Sheriff’s Office, and at this time he and his client, do not feel comfortable making a statement on the allegations.
The post Southern Indiana business under investigation over misuse of funds raised for slain teen’s family first appeared on Voxtrend News.
