Ex-Clemson star, now in the NFL, to pay for funeral of 11-year-old SC shooting victim
A shooting in Upstate South Carolina left a fifth grade girl dead, two other people injured, and a house riddled by 35 gunshots, according to Anderson police and local reports.
As the family mourns 11-year-old Ja’Naiya Scott, a former Clemson football player who went pro with the Buffalo Bills offered to the family to pay for the funeral, WHNS reports.
Shaq Lawson, a defensive end for the NFL team, grew up about 20 miles from where Ja’Naiya was killed, according to the Anderson Independent Mail. The family announced Lawson’s offer at a vigil for Ja’Naiya Wednesday evening.
“It could have been my little sister,” Lawson told the newspaper. “I’ve got a little sister around that age, and it could have been one of my family members.”
The shooting happened at about 1:30 a.m. Sunday, police said. Two other victims, an 11-year-old girl and an 18-year-old woman, were both in the home and injured in the shooting, according to Anderson police.
“This was a very tragic, senseless incident,” Anderson Police Chief Jim Stewart said in a press conference earlier this week, WHNS reports. He said someone fired 35 shots into the home, but investigators had not figured out if someone targeted the house or it was a random shooting, according to the station.
Lawson played football for D.W. Daniel High School in Central, South Carolina before moving just a couple miles south to join the Clemson Tigers, according to the NFL. He was drafted to the Buffalo Bills in 2016.
This story was originally published June 27, 2019 at 9:03 AM.
