Bluffton community remembers homicide victim, a 'beautiful soul'

Shirley Kinlaw's eyes were pleading Sunday night as she stood in front of a crowd of more than 100 people on the site where her son was slain.

Speaking at the candlight vigil for Jon Anthony Kinlaw, 29, the Bluffton mother asked young men to put down their guns and put down the hate that makes them reach for weapons at all.

She asked for them to pick up love instead, and to remember "that there's a thing called 'let's talk it out'" the next time they find themselves filled with anger or frustration.

Just a week after Jon Kinlaw was gunned down in the Dollar General parking lot on Jan. 3, his mother is desperate to bring meaning to the tragedy. If the violence can stop and others can be spared because of lessons learned from Kinlaw's death, her loss will not have been in vain, Shirley Kinlaw said from her spot at the front of the crowd.

"So be it, so be it, so be it," she said.

But on Sunday, a day before her son's funeral, that peace is out of reach. Shirley Kinlaw is simply in pain.

"This is what violence does," she said. "It leaves a mother without a son. It leaves a daughter without a father."

One of her other sons, Christopher, also spoke, asking people to be mindful of those they associate with.

"They murdered my brother," he said. "... Not everybody is who they pretend to be."

Kryon Primus, 17, of Hardeeville, has been charged with murder in Jon Kinlaw's homicide.

Murder charges are also pending against Kenneth Crivan Mitchell, 24, of Savannah, who is being held in the Chatham County jail on unrelated charges.

Though several people who spoke at the vigil referenced a "turf war" and a possible grudge between the men, Lt. Joseph Babkiewicz said police are not releasing further details, including what started the dispute and who fired the fatal shot.

Despite the violence that ended his life, friends and family described Kinlaw as a respectful young man who was kind and prayerful.

He was well known in the community and at his mother's church, First Zion Baptist in Bluffton.

"Heart of gold," said one of his best friends, Brittany Ward. "Beautiful soul."

He was also the father of a 7-year-old girl, Jonasia, who he would bring to the town's playground to climb on the new, wooden pirate ship.

On Sunday night, Jonasia stood in front of her mother, G'Nene Singleton, wearing a gray memorial T-shirt a few sizes too big. On it was a picture of herself and her father, smiling wide.

More than 60 people stood in the parking lot when the vigil began, and their numbers doubled over the next hour.

Together, they sang "We Shall Overcome" and lifted white candles over their heads. As the flames melted the tapers down, wax dripped onto the pavement where Kinlaw had lay dying just a week ago.

As the vigil ended, a cousin of Shirley Kinlaw left the crowd with one final prayer.

The relative, Johnnie Brown, had already asked those gathered to pray for the family of Jon Kinlaw and to pray for Bluffton. He'd asked them to reflect on their own actions, to look in the mirror and decide if they liked what they saw and the paths they were on.

Now, he asked for something that was painfully absent from the parking lot on May River Road on Jan. 3.

"Father, we must understand we cannot take life that does not belong to us," Brown said.

Kinlaw's funeral is scheduled for 11 a.m. Monday at Greater Pentecostal Temple in Levy.

Follow reporter Rebecca Lurye at twitter.com/IPBG_Rebecca.

This story was originally published January 10, 2016 at 8:23 PM with the headline "Bluffton community remembers homicide victim, a 'beautiful soul'."