CLARENDON COUNTY, S.C. — Family and friends are grieving the loss of Audrionna Kind and are coming together to figure out their next steps.
Kind was killed in what Clarendon County Sheriff Tim Baxley called a drive-by shooting into a crowd of about 150 people. Witnesses said two vehicles approached and gunfire followed.
The group was celebrating graduation only a short time after the district held the event at two high schools.
Summerton Mayor Tony Junious is Kind's cousin. The family affectionately called her 'Tutu.' Junious says this loss is a personal one.
“One thing I always loved about Tutu, whatever she got to tell you, she’s gonna say what she got to say, and at the end of the day she come around, and she still love you," Junious said.
“Her mom and my mom are sisters and so this is personal for me in a lot of ways. This has hurt the family because if anyone knows Tutu who we call…Tutu was a roundabout person," he said.
Alonso Felder is another cousin.
"I gave her the name 'Tutu,' to show you how close we were. She was a year behind me," he said. "We were a year apart so we grew up together," Felder said. "It hurts she’s been taken away from us, and our family is taking it very hard. We’re a close-knitted family."
Felder said Kind leaves behind five children, one of whom was also shot during Saturday's drive-by shooting in Clarendon County.
Terrance Tindal said he used to work with the children in the Clarendon County School District.
“Knowing the children, and the relationship with their mother, they were very close, and they depended a lot on their mom and the mother was very active in their lives," said Tindal.
Mayor Junious says the town of Summerton plans to update its safety plan in wake of last weekend's events and it's next scheduled council meeting is Tuesday. The investigation into who is responsible in the shooting continues.