Larry Swearingen III, a 42-year-old White Army veteran from Aiken, South Carolina, was shot on August 10, 2019, while walking on Laurens Street with his wife, Jess, and their daughter. He was taken to Augusta University Medical Center and pronounced dead that Saturday evening, several days after the attack. Family statements and obituary notices describe him as a husband, father, and former soldier whose death devastated his household.

Police identified Dae’Kwon Simmons, 17 at the time, as the suspected shooter soon after the incident; he was arrested and charged with murder and with possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime. Authorities also charged Simmons with two counts of attempted murder for the risk posed to Swearingen’s wife and daughter, and another juvenile was reported to have been charged in connection with the same episode. Court records show Simmons was convicted and sentenced to 38 years in prison; an appellate opinion filed on May 7, 2025, affirmed the convictions and sentence, noting contested testimony from a witness with a juvenile adjudication.

Did anyone in Aiken see the family that evening or have information about who was present on Laurens Street?