Four teenage boys were killed in a usually quiet South Carolina town in less than 24 hours, sending residents desperately looking for answers.
Police said the first teen was shot in rural Newberry around 12:05 early Sunday morning, WLTX-TV in Columbia reported. The victim — identified as 16-year-old Mykain David — soon died of his wounds.
Later Sunday, just before 3 p.m., three more young men — 15-year-old Jhisere Robinson, 18-year-old Jahquindon Toland and 19-year-old Sonterrious Davis — were gunned down only a block from the scene of the first shooting.
Police said the four teens all lived in the same neighborhood, according to Fox News.
As of Thursday, police hadn’t made any arrests or identified any suspects.
Newberry Police Chief Kevin Goodman said that the victims knew each other and were “in the same social circle.”
But the chief did not know how close any of them were with one another, nor did he have an idea if the four shootings were related.
Goodman added that the rash of murders is a shock to the community.
“I want to take time to say to my Newberry community: We must stay prayerful,” Goodman said during a news conference on Monday. “We must come together and work together to find a way to help our young people.”
“To the young people of Newberry, understand this: We love you and I love you,” the chief said with emotion in his voice. “And I want nothing but the best for you. I’m here for you, and we have to do better.”
He added, “As a lifelong resident of Newberry, not just the chief of police, someone who loves this community, someone who loves the youth in this community, I am in disbelief, and I hurt to the core.
“We’re losing our young people at an alarming rate, and some things have got to change. These four young men have left behind parents, siblings, friends and other family members that love them and wanted nothing but the best for them.
“Somehow, some way, we as a community, as village, have to find a way to reach our young people to avoid these types of meetings.”
Newberry Mayor Foster Senn added that it was a “tragic 24 hours” in Newberry. And while he decried gun violence, Senn also praised law-abiding gun owners, saying, “The great majority of our gun people are doing the right things.”
Unfortunately, the people of Newberry are not alone in experiencing rising rates of violence and crime in President Joe Biden’s America. Crime is on the rise across the nation, especially in Democrat-controlled cities.
New York, Chicago, Baltimore, San Francisco, Washington and many others have been plagued by violence.
The District of Columbia, for instance, saw a 15 percent increase in homicides last year over 2020, with 227 people killed, according to The Washington Post.
Crime in Chicago continues to spiral out of control. As of Sunday, 219 residents had been murdered this year alone. In 2021, the city reported a staggering 797 homicides.
As for New York, overall crime has increased by 34.2 percent this year thus far, the New York Police Department said in a news release earlier this month. The rise is driven by increases in grand larceny, robbery and burglaries. While the city’s murder tally declined, nearly every other crime metric saw double-digit hikes.
Of course, it isn’t just the big cities, as we saw with the horrendous school massacre in a small Texas town this week — and the killings in rural Newberry on Sunday.
But one thing is certain: Following the left-wing cry to defund the police won’t lead to a safer America.
