Bills' Shaq Lawson Says He Will Pay for Funeral of Girl Killed in South Carolina

Former Clemson Tigers and current Buffalo Bills defensive end Shaq Lawson has pledged to pay for the funeral of Ja'Naiya Scott, an 11-year-old girl who was shot and killed in Anderson, South Carolina on Sunday.

Lawson reached out to Scott's mother, Marshella Rice, and wants to help the family.

"I know her heart was hurting," Lawson told Nikie Mayo of the Greenville News. "I was so speechless I couldn't saying anything. I felt for her pain. I felt the pain, too. I felt like any way I could possibly help out, I was going to do that. It hit my heart."

The tragedy hit home for Lawson, who grew up in a town not far from Anderson.

"It could have been my little sister," the 25-year-old Bills defender told Mayo. "I've got a little sister around that age, and it could have been one of my family members."

According to Mayo, Scott was fatally shot early Sunday morning, at approximately 1:30 a.m., after someone fired more than 35 shots at the family's house. Per Grant Gordon of NFL.com, Scott's subclavian artery was severed after she was shot in the shoulder and she died in the emergency room.

Scott's 18-year-old sister and 11-year-old cousin were hospitalized as a result of the shooting.

No arrests have been made in the case.

"Whoever did this needs to come forward and tell the truth," Lawson said, per Mayo. "And whoever's hiding, it's wrong that you're hiding. This is a little girl who is gone. It's just pointless killing people — killing an innocent child. She was at home, a place she was supposed to be safe."

Lawson went to high school in Central, South Carolina, which is approximately 20 miles north of Anderson. He spent three years (2013-15) at nearby Clemson for college.