On a tragic July 4, 2019, Kenya Purnell, a 21-year-old Black female from Laurinburg, North Carolina, was fatally shot at the Sunflower Apartments on McNeil Street in Dillon, South Carolina. The Dillon County Coroner confirmed that she died at the scene from a gunshot wound. Her death marked a grim point in a series of shootings that had plagued the Newtown community since that June.
The investigation into her death led authorities to 27-year-old Delaney Ismale Leach III of Dillon.
He was subsequently arrested and charged with the murder of Kenya Purnell. Following his arrest, Leach was held at the Dillon County Detention Center as he awaited a bond hearing.
The arrest of a suspect brought a measure of relief to the community, which had been unsettled by the recent violence. According to reports at the time, the legal proceedings against Delaney Ismale Leach III were ongoing. Friends and family mourned the loss of Kenya Purnell at funeral services held on July 9, 2019, in Little Rock, South Carolina.
