Updated: In wake of recent violence, friends, family speak up, plan vigil in Beaufort

Rose Bing-Ferguson grew weary hearing of the violence in her hometown and surrounding areas.

The Beaufort native has organized a 4 p.m. candlelight vigil in Washington Street Park on Saturday. She was born and raised a couple of blocks away.

"I just wanted to do something to help, to spread the word to try and stop all the violence that's been going on," said Bing-Ferguson, who has lived in Nashville, Tenn., for the past 15 years and says she is in the process of moving home.

The vigil is part of a broader effort that includes other community groups in Beaufort and Jasper counties.

Representatives from "Beaufort Strong," a group that organized following the shooting death of Steven Brown on Oct. 31, are expected to attend as are representatives of Citizens Against Violence Everywhere and the city of Beaufort and area pastors, Ferguson said.

Brown was shot and killed in an early morning incident outside Elks Lodge on Church Street. Two other men were also wounded in the shooting.

The shooting is still under investigation. Police had no new information to release Thursday, police Cpl. Hope Able said.

Beaufort Strong's first meeting drew about 50 people. The group organized a peace rally last week outside of the Beaufort County Administration Building.

Among those involved in Beaufort Strong are family members of Antonio Brewer, who was shot and killed outside a Port Royal apartment complex in March, and one of the victims wounded at a shooting at Beaufort's IHOP in October, said Stephanie Finn, a Burton resident who organized the Beaufort Strong movement.

"We want our old Beaufort back," Finn said. "We're not known for all of the situations that are going on.

We're just trying to bring the community-watch feeling back into Beaufort."

'It's very painful'

Jasper County Sheriff Gregory Jenkins sat at a table, facing the lights of several television news cameras in November.

The previous weekend, 18-year-old Jamonte Simmons had been shot and killed in Ridgeland during a dispute over an all-terrain vehicle. A 15-year-old faces a murder and gun charge.

"It's very painful," Jenkins said. "It's not only painful for the family, but it's painful for law enforcement, because we're seeing it quite often. If it's not an argument, it's a situation where there's some type of altercation which has weapons involved, as we have seen over the last couple of months."

The killing was the ninth murder the Sheriff's Office has worked this year, with two under investigation.

In Beaufort County, there have been 13 murders this year, including the municipalities. That's the most murders in the county in at least 20 years, Sheriff's Office Capt. Bob Bromage said, surpassing the previous high of 12 in 2012.

In addition, there was a homicide by child abuse and the remains of an adult male were found on St. Helena Island in October.

The man's death is under investigation but is "highly suspicious," Bromage said Thursday.

As with the November murder in Jasper County, teens have been at the center of multiple notable killings in Beaufort County.

In January, 18-year-old William Major was shot and killed in Dale. Another teen, 17-year-old Geoni Clark, was charged with Major's murder.

Seventeen-year-old Malik Shakur was charged with murder in May in connection to the shooting death of Matthew Horne on a downtown Beaufort basketball court.

And on Hilton Head Island in July, 17-year-old Dominique Williams was shot to death following an argument with the 15-year-old murder suspect the previous day.

Speaking up

Bing-Ferguson, the organizer of Saturday's vigil, said residents need to keep an eye on their neighborhoods and speak up when they see something.

"We need to stop protecting the person who is actually doing the violence," Bing-Ferguson said. "If we know, we need to let it be known."

The week following Simmons' murder in Jasper County, the Sheriff's Office held a pair of community meetings to discuss crime and address how residents can help.

Witnesses came forward in Simmons' killing, he said.

That is not always the case.

In some cases, parents are telling their children not to talk to police, Jenkins said. Some of the violence is preceded by seemingly simple arguments that could be kept under control by someone speaking up, he said.

"We hear it over and over again -- 'It starts at home' -- that's true, but it's going to take the total community," Jenkins said.

Finn, of Beaufort Strong, said the group has been in touch with Beaufort police and been assured investigators are actively working to solve open cases. Families directly affected by recent violence have also kept the group apprised.

Starting in January, Beaufort Strong hopes to meet or hold an event at least once a month. The group started a Facebook page that has drawn more than 1,200 "likes."

"Something has to be done," Finn said.

Follow reporter Stephen Fastenau at twitter.com/IPBG_Stephen.

Related content:

• Victim in deadly Beaufort shooting identified, Nov. 2, 2015
• Four shot, one fatally, in two Beaufort incidents, Oct. 31, 2015
• Year of the gun: Beaufort County on track to have a record number of murders this year, May 16, 2015

This story was originally published December 3, 2015 at 9:26 AM with the headline "Updated: In wake of recent violence, friends, family speak up, plan vigil in Beaufort."