Shaquille Pertell, 19, died Tuesday after being shot inside a mobile home in Horry County.
Ronnie Pertell, her father, keeps his heart close to him. "Every time I look at my license, I look at her."
Right in the front slot of his worn down wallet. "She was four-years-old."
And when his daughter Shaquille was five, he was forced to raise her and his other children alone. "When her mother passed, I dressed her up like she was going hunting. I put her in the truck. Everyday we were together like 24/7."
Throughout the years, Ronnie says he did his best to raise Shaquille, and soon it was time for his heart to go out on her own.
"She was doing real good. She was working. She was making her own money."
But soon after, Shaquille started to run with the wrong crowd and, Ronnie's warnings fell on deaf ears.
"Love will conquer all. I knew she loved this fella, but what could I do? As a parent what could I do? I couldn't go and snatch her from there and say come with me because eventually she's going to fly back there."
And this week, the single father's worst fear came true.
Tuesday morning someone broke down Shaquille's front door, shot and killed her.
"It's just hard to bury your own child. It really is. It's hard, and I wish this on no parent to go through."
Police arrested Shaquille's boyfriend, Rodney McElveen, in connection with the incident for possession of a weapon during a violent crime, and trafficking drugs.
But he is not a suspect in her murder.
And so far police have no clear suspect.
The Horry County Solicitor's Office believes Shaquille was not the shooter's intended target. That, Ronnie says, weighs most heavily on him.
"I get in my vehicle and I ride and I cry. People don't know. People just don't know."
Which leaves this father at a loss for words because now he's lost his heart.
Ronnie said he found the strength to talk today so other parents know this can happen to anyone and with the prayer that someone who knows anything would come forward.
If you have any information about Shaquille's murder, you can reach the Horry County Police Department at 843-915-TIPS
