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'Your heart will be broken:' SC 7-year-old killed during domestic dispute

A Newberry County child is dead after a domestic dispute turned violent.

NEWBERRY, S.C. — A Newberry County boy is dead an a man is facing a murder charge after a domestic situation spiraled out of control, investigators say. 

The death of 7-year-old Iven Penny was confirmed Tuesday, a day after he passed away at a Columbia hospital. 

RELATED: 7-year-old boy dies after being shot during SC domestic dispute

Officers say the man charged in his killing, 26-year-old X’Zavier Davis, was trying to get into his girlfriend’s home on Cherry Lane in Newberry around 3 a.m. Saturday, according to Newberry Sheriff Lee Foster.

Davis was unable to get a response because everyone inside was asleep, but he eventually gained entry and a dispute began. The girlfriend left out of the back door with three kids who were inside and put them all into the car.

The sheriff says Davis met her outside, produced a weapon and began firing. 

“She realized she had been hit, headed to the emergency room here in Newberry, then she realized the 7-year-old child had been hit as well," Foster said. "The child was later transferred to Prisma Health in Richland to the Trauma Center. The child died a couple days later."

Iven Penny, 7, was not a biological child of Davis, but did live in the same home as him.

Penny’s grandfather Wallace Hunter says he was lovable and playful.

“When you lose a life like that you never ever forget it and if you knew Iven, your heart will be broken to know something like this happened,” Hunter said.

The other two children — both under 2 years old — in the car were reportedly Davis’ biological children. The sheriff says they are fine and with family.

The surviving victim checked out of the hospital to be with her son. She has a gunshot wound in her lower leg, but is going to be OK.

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