Summerton, South Carolina, is a tiny majority Black town of 814 people. However, many majority Black rural communities in South Carolina have very high homicide rates.
Eight people were shot at a graduation party being held at a residential house. Audrionna Kind, a 32 mother of five, was killed. Seven other unnamed victims were shot, ages 12, 13, 14, 15, 15, 17, and 31.
Police say two vehicles approached the home. One drove into the yard, and a gunman opened fire. Both cars then sped away.
Police say 60-70 rounds were fired into a group of nearly 150 people standing in the front yard of the home. No suspects have been named.
America has also seen several multiple shootings with fatalities at graduation ceremonies this year.
Summerton has had at least five homicides since 2014. This is .59 homicides per year. With only 814 people, that is a staggering homicide rate of 72.5 per 100k. If Summerton were a large city, it would be one of the absolute deadliest in America. One of the excuses for high homicides rates among Black Americans is “urbanization.” Yet we continuously see the same shockingly high homicide rates in rural majority Black towns and suburbs. Consider the example of Chester, a majority Black outer suburb of Philadelphia with 33k people. While Philadelphia is notorious nationwide for its homicides, Chester actually has a significantly higher homicide rate.
