Family Devastated After Father and Age 9 Daughter Killed When Mistaken for Deer While Hunting
A South Carolina family is devastated after a tragic hunting accident left 30-year-old father Kim Daniel Drawdy and his 9-year-old daughter Lauren Drawdy dead.
The father and daughter had been part of a hunting party on New Year’s Day in Colleton County when the accident happened, WCSC reported.
The Drawdys and two other hunters had been engaged in a process called deer driving, an attempt to move deer to a desired hunting location, on the final day of South Carolina’s deer hunting season.
According to the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, the father and daughter were shot after being mistaken for deer and died from injuries consistent with a gunshot wound.
NEWS RELEASE: Four hunters were attempting to move deer, also known as driving deer, near Barracada Road in Walterboro when two hunters were shot after being mistaken for a deer.
Those two hunters succumbed to their injuries.
SCDNR continues to investigate this incident.
— S.C. Dept. of Natural Resources (@SCDNR) January 2, 2020
The SCDNR announced it is investigating the incident and has not commented on who killed the pair or how they were mistaken for deer.
Kim Drawdy, one of 12 siblings, was described in his obituary as a “devoted father and son” who had a deep passion for the outdoors.
Lauren, a fourth-grade student at Cottageville Elementary School, shared her father’s love of the outdoors.
“Lauren truly loved spending time outdoors with her father hunting and fishing, and riding four wheelers and her dirt bike. She was so proud of harvesting her first deer in late October,” her obituary read.
Kim Drawdy’s brother, Benny Drawdy, told WCSC that the family is having a difficult time accepting what has happened.
“I was devastated,” Benny Drawdy said. “I couldn’t believe it when I first got the news. I said, ‘It couldn’t be.’ It broke my heart and I couldn’t believe it, a twin brother and now there’s only one left.”
“Of all days, ringing in the new year, something like this happens,” he said.
Lauren Drawdy is survived by her mother, Mary Katina Bowers, step-father Jordan Brovon, and her sister Kylie Drawdy in addition to extended family and classmates.
A fundraiser has been set up to cover funeral expenses for the pair as the family prepares to bury their loved ones on Thursday.
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