‘Just total shock’: Mother, daughter found shot to death in home

SUMTER COUNTY, S.C. (WIS/Gray News) - A double homicide investigation is underway after the bodies of a mother and daughter were found at a South Carolina home.

Neighbor Rosalynne Kauffman watched as blue lights rushed down Pudding Swamp Road Wednesday afternoon, where the bodies were found.

“Just total shock,” Kauffman said. “Pretty much everybody knows everybody, and it’s a surprise that it happened here.”

Sumter County Coroner Robbie Baker identified the victims as Lola Hurt, 55, and her daughter, Melony Johnson, 41. The two died from “apparent gunshot wounds.”

The Sumter County Sheriff’s Office said investigators have identified people of interest and “have reason to believe that the victims knew the killer(s).”

“It’s a traumatic thing. It’s a terrible thing. It saddens the community. It saddens us as a law enforcement agency to have to respond to these things,” said Chief Deputy Hampton Gardner.

Officials said the home had no signs of forced entry and that it appears the shooting happened sometime between Aug. 29 and 30.

Gardner reiterated that authorities are looking at multiple persons of interest.

Autopsies for the victims are scheduled.

Officials said they believe there is no larger threat to the community, but the violence has shaken the close-knit community.

“I just couldn’t believe that somebody would take the life of two ladies and just leave them lying out in the open,” Kauffman said.