They call him 'Kid.' He's fighting for air after Five Points shooting

Back home in Winnsboro, he's known as "Kid."

Kidron Amaziah Deal was a popular sight on campus at Fairfield Central High School, where he excelled as a two-sport athlete in football and baseball.

Deal's old football coach, Demetrius Davis, was quick to visit Deal and his family after the 20-year-old was shot in Five Points on Sunday.

"He's fighting," Davis said of Deal, still heavily sedated after three days in a Columbia hospital. "He'll keep on fighting. He's got a big fight in front of him."

Deal and two other unconnected men were injured in Columbia's popular nightlife district when gunfire erupted on Harden Street at 2 a.m.

Deal was struck in the face and has been kept breathing by a ventilator ever since. Davis visited his former player Tuesday evening before he faced his second surgery of the week.

Before the shooting, Deal was planning on applying to college in the fall while working for an auto supplier in Ridgeway.

He's still well-known at the school where he graduated in 2015.

"This is a small community," Davis said. "The ninth-graders are still here from when he was a senior. The teachers remember him. It's a tragic situation. But he'll have a lot of support here."

Davis remembers Deal as a hardworking and dependable wide receiver who played all four years on the junior varsity and varsity teams. An only child, his family moved away after school. But Davis says his grandmother, a big presence in Deal's childhood, still lives in Winnsboro and is praying for her grandson's recovery.

"He was just one of those kids," Davis said. "I wouldn't say he was silly, but he just had a great big personality that attracted everybody to him."

Howard Boone Jr. , a college student and Army reservist from North Carolina, remains hospitalized after being struck in the neck.

A third man, Anfernee Kirkland, an airman first class at Sumter's Shaw Air Force Base, is recuperating at his home after being shot in the lower back, the air base said in a release.

The accused shooter is jailed on a $3 million bond.

This story was originally published March 21, 2018 at 3:47 PM with the headline "They call him 'Kid.' He's fighting for air after Five Points shooting."