Cases of youth violence in Spartanburg County have left four homicides unsolved and prompted a county councilman to call for deeper investments in reaching vulnerable teens before violence erupts.
Five minors have been shot and killed in separate incidents in Spartanburg County since June. So far, arrests have been made in one of the five cases. Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office investigators suspect that several of the shootings were committed by minors. All were drive-by shootings.
- Kory Nathaniel Fredericks, 17, of Duncan, was shot on June 22. Spartanburg County deputies responded to a shooting in the parking lot of Academy Sports + Outdoors, located at 100 Peachwood Center Drive. Fredericks was transported to Spartanburg Regional Medical Center, where he died at 2:47 a.m
- Raheim Kelly was 15 years old when he was killed at his home on June 27. Around 4:40 a.m., Spartanburg police officers arrived to find a trail of blood leading to Kelly, suffering from a gunshot wound on the second floor of the home.
- The youngest victim, 7-month-old Zymir Demarco Smith, was shot in the neck Aug. 3. About 4:15 a.m., Smith was sleeping in bed with his mother when he was struck by gunfire, according to reports.
- Zion Renaldo Myssiah Jordan was 17 years old when he was shot at a home on Amherst Drive on Sept. 20. On Oct. 21, officers arrested Arieanna Selena Jackson, 17, of Taylors, Henry Lewis Jackson Jr. of Taylors, 18 and Kenton Lakeem Byrd, 27, of Duncan. All were charged with murder and held in the Spartanburg Detention Center. No trial dates have been set.
- The most recent killing occurred Nov. 24, when Bro’darrien K. Tate was shot. Around 8 p.m., deputies received calls of two people shot at the Bryant Apartments in Inman. Spartanburg County Coroners pronounced Tate dead at 8:46 p.m.
District 1 Spartanburg County Councilman Monier Abusaft said he is looking for answers and thinks gun violence prevention goes deeper than adding law enforcement or issuing calls for peace.
“The problem is, how do we even reach some of these kids,” Abusaft said. If we talk to them after they’ve committed a crime, then it’s too late and a lot of these kids fall through the cracks of the school system by dropping out before we can get to them”…