A blown-out candle was among the mementos sitting on a concrete wall in Beech Island as it drizzled Wednesday afternoon, where just hours earlier a young life also was snuffed out with a single gunshot.
Gail McFadgen had been sitting on that wall outside a Diamond Street home only briefly when she was shot about 9 p.m. Tuesday, according to witnesses gathered near the memorial Wednesday, who said they were family and friends of the slain 16-year-old but asked not to be named.
Aiken County Coroner Tim Carlton said the teen died of a single gunshot wound to the abdomen, and that her death has been ruled a homicide. No arrests have been made, and so far the Aiken County Sheriff's Office has not named suspects.
Witnesses told deputies the suspect was in a dark-blue four-door Honda Civic that drove past them at a high speed when they heard "a loud gunshot," said Capt. Eric Abdullah, a spokesman for the Sheriff's Office.
According to the incident report, witnesses said the gunshot came from the rear, driver's-side window.
The memorial included stuffed dogs and bears, flowers, balloons, a candle and a sweatshirt with Gaily Gail written on it.
"She was family," said one man Wednesday who asked only to be referred to as "Frog."
"We've known her since she was born. We never really got to see her full potential."
One woman described McFadgen as humble and outgoing and said McFadgen was thinking about becoming a cosmetologist. She said McFadgen went to Aiken High School and Midland Valley High before that.
"She would bring a smile to a (person's) face in everything," another man said. "She didn't deserve nothing of what she got."
Anyone with information on the case is urged to call the Sheriff's Office at 803-648-6811 or 888-CRIME-SC (888-274-6372).
Teddy Kulmala covers the crime and courts beat for the Aiken Standard and has been with the newspaper since August 2012. He is a native of Williston and majored in communication studies at Clemson University.