Kimberly Waters Leon,Willie James Hopkins Jr Obituary, Death; – A shooting incident at a factory in South Carolina this week, which resulted in the deaths of a man and a woman, has been classified as a murder-suicide, as reported by sister station WRDW.
The event occurred shortly before 6 p.m. on Monday, March 31, at the Darling Ingredients facility in Ward. Upon arrival, deputies discovered the deceased individuals, later identified by the Saluda County coroner as 52-year-old Kimberly Waters Leon and 44-year-old Willie James Hopkins Jr.
According to the Saluda County sheriff, the shooting took place near a loading dock outside the factory, and it was revealed that Leon and Hopkins had previously been in a relationship but had recently separated. Another sister station, WIS, interviewed members of Leon’s family, who indicated that Hopkins was the one who fired the lethal shots.
“He took something I can’t get back,” stated Leon’s sister. “I know I will need to have a long conversation with God to find forgiveness because I will never forget this. When I received that call, I thought it was just a cruel pre-April Fools’ joke.”
“[It’s] just selfishness. You couldn’t accept that she had moved on,” remarked one of Leon’s daughters, referring to Hopkins. “You were selfish after everything she did for him. She stood by him through cancer and everything else. And this is how you repay her?”
Following the shooting, Darling Ingredients confirmed in a statement to WRDW that both Leon and Hopkins were employees at the plant.
The facility, previously a Valley Proteins site, is situated in a rural area off Highway 23, in the western part of South Carolina, approximately an hour west of Columbia and an hour north of Augusta, Georgia.
