15-year-old boy killed by falling tree outside grandparents’ South Carolina home

Those who knew Evan Kinley describe him as fun to be around and always surrounded by friends. ‘If you knew him, you liked him.’

A 15-year-old South Carolina boy on his way to see his grandparents was killed by a falling tree during a severe storm.

Evan Kinley had just arrived to his grandparents’ house during a storm on Monday night. As he got out of his car, a large tree uprooted and landed on him, causing multiple traumatic injuries, the Anderson County Coroner’s Office said in a news release.

Evan was pronounced dead at the home in Anderson in northwestern South Carolina.

Processing tragedy

Evan was a sophomore at TL Hanna High School, said Superintendent Brenda Kelley of Anderson School District 5.

“Words never seem to convey comfort during a time like this, but please take a moment to remember why we are in the roles that we are, and please keep Evan, his family, and the TLH students, faculty, and staff in mind as you go about your day tomorrow,” she said in a district-wide statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family at this time.

She said additional support staff members were at the high school on Tuesday to help students and staff “process this tragedy.”

‘A great kid’

Evan was a volunteer junior firefighter at the Broadway Fire Department in Anderson, played for the high school football team, and was an avid outdoorsman who loved hunting and fishing, according to an online obituary.

“Evan loved God, his family, and his many friends,” the obituary said.

“Please keep this family in your thoughts and prayers. The next few days are going to be rough on them,” the Broadway Fire Department said in a Facebook post. “Evan was a great kid!! He was a Junior Firefighter with us and we were really looking forward to having him in the future. He’ll definitely be missed. Rest in peace our young friend.”

‘If you knew him, you liked him’

Jason Tone, Evan’s football coach, told WYFF-TV that the boy “always had a smile on his face.”

“He showed up every day to work, was a great teammate, very energetic (and) fun to be around and he had a lot of friends on the team,” he said.

Chief David Burnette of the Broadway Fire Department told the station that “it’s hard to say enough good about him.”

“I never will be able to say enough to make him shine the way he should, to be honest with you,” he said. “You had to know him, but if you knew him, you liked him.”

Nina Tran covers trending topics. Reach her via email at ntran@gannett.com