Kenya Purnell, a 21-year-old Black woman from Laurinburg, North Carolina, was shot and killed on July 4, 2019, at the Sunflower Apartments on McNeil Street in Dillon, South Carolina. The Dillon County Coroner confirmed she died at the scene from a gunshot wound. Her death occurred amid a string of shootings affecting the Newtown community since the previous June.

Authorities arrested 27-year-old Delaney Ismale Leach III of Dillon and charged him with Purnell’s murder; he was held at the Dillon County Detention Center awaiting a bond hearing while legal proceedings were ongoing. Friends and family held funeral services for Purnell on July 9, 2019, in Little Rock, South Carolina.

Did anyone in the area know Kenya or have information about the events around McNeil Street that day?