In the quiet early morning hours of August 20, 2017, in Gaffney, South Carolina, the life of 8-year-old Kamryn Montara Lamya Bradley was tragically cut short. A rising third-grader from Shelby, North Carolina, Kamryn was visiting family at an apartment on West Buford Street. Just after 1 a.m., while she was sitting on a sofa inside the residence, multiple gunshots were fired from outside. A stray bullet penetrated a window and struck the young girl in the head.
She was rushed to a nearby hospital but succumbed to her injuries about 90 minutes later. Investigators believed the shooting was gang-related and that Kamryn was not the intended target.
The senseless act of violence left a community in mourning and a family heartbroken. For months, the investigation into Kamryn's death continued. In March 2018, authorities announced the arrests of two teenagers in connection with the fatal shooting. A 16-year-old was charged with murder, and 18-year-old Greyson Ellis Hughey was charged with accessory after the fact to a felony. The juvenile suspect was arrested in Spartanburg by Spartanburg County deputies and the U.S. Marshals Service, while Gaffney police apprehended Hughey.
Years later, a resolution in the case brought some measure of justice for Kamryn's family. In October 2022, Donald Martin, III, who was 15 at the time of the shooting, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter. Investigators found 15 shell casings at the scene, evidence of the reckless gunfire that claimed the child's life. Martin, then 20 years old, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for his role in the shooting that ended the life of an innocent 8-year-old girl.
