Family plead for witnesses to come forward after their ten-year-old boy is ‘deliberately’ shot dead in a trailer park
- Dylan Twitty, 10, was shot and killed in Lancaster, South Carolina, trailer park on Friday afternoon
- His family say Dylan’s friends, who were inside a mobile home steps from where he was shot, said they did not see or hear anything
- Lancaster County sheriff says Dylan’s death was not a random act and was an isolated incident posing no threat to the public
- Dylan was a straight A fifth-grader with perfect attendance and had just been inducted into an honors program
A ten-year-old South Carolina boy was returning home from a playmate’s home in a trailer park on Friday afternoon when he was shot and left to bleed out on a patch of grass.
Four days later, the family of Dylan Twitty are demanding answers and pleading for the boy’s friends to come forward with information.
According to the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office, deputies were called to a mobile home park on Coastal Way in Lancaster shortly before 4pm for reports of a shooting.
Dylan Twitty, 10, was shot and killed in a Lancaster, South Carolina, trailer park on Friday afternoon. The boy suffered a single wound to the upper torso
Dylan was gunned down and left to bleed out outside this trailer home in Lancaster
Responding officers found Dylan stretched out on the ground between two trailer homes. The child was rushed to Medical University of South Carolina-Lancaster Medical Center, where he succumbed to his injuries a short time later, reported Live 5 News.
His mother, Delia Twitty, said her son had been playing at a friend’s house and was on his way home when he was gunned down.
A boy getting off a school bus found Dylan and began performing CPR on him until paramedics arrived.
An autopsy later determined that the fifth-grader sustained a single gunshot wound to the upper torso.
Sheriff Barry Faile said he believes the shooting was not a random act of violence, but rather an ‘isolated incident.’ He added that there is nothing to suggest that there is no threat to the general public, but he would not go into further detail.
Dylan’s mother said her son’s friends, who were playing in a trailer home adjacent to the spot where he was shot, said they have not heard or seen anything.
A blue flower cross marks the spot where Dylan found dying in a patch of grass
The boy’s siblings, Dalila (left) and Fred Twitty (right), are pleading for witnesses to come forward and help catch the person who shot Dylan
The boy’s older brother, 15-year-old Fred Twitty, broke down in sobs pleading for answers.
‘Someone knows something, man,’ the teenager told WSOC-TV. ‘They ain’t speaking up. They’re scared. They’re scared to talk.’
Fred said he and his siblings grew up without a father, so he helped raise Dylan as if he was his own son.
Dylan was a straight A student with perfect attendance at Erwin Elementary School, where counselor Pat McFadden described him as a sweet boy who cared about his classmates and sought to comfort those in distress.
Just last week, Dylan was inducted into the Beta Club honors program.
‘He’s the type of student that we need more of,’ Principal Cory Hyslop said. ‘He worked hard and was always giving his 100 per cent.’
Dylan was a straight A fifth-grader with a perfect attendance record. He had just been inducted into an honors program last week
Meanwhile, Dylan’s older sister, Dalila Twitty, has started an online campaign seeking donations to buy bracelets and T-shirts honoring her brother.
In an impassioned status update posted on Facebook a day after her brother’s death, Dalila vowed to get justice for her ‘baby boy.’
‘You were an innocent child,’ she wrote. ‘Why would somebody rob you from your life. You were only 10.’
As of Tuesday morning, no arrests have been made. Anyone with information about this case is asked to call the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office at 803-283-3388 or contact Midlands Crimestoppers at 888-274-6372.