Blue ribbons honor victims of Florence shooting
Tomeka Ashley, left, with coworker Delaunda Benjamin of the Carolina Café at Carolina Pines Regional Medical Center in Hartsville. The recent deaths of two police officers involved in a mass shooting in Florence strongly affected residents of the Pee Dee area. Ashley, a Carolina Pines employee, felt compelled to honor the officers by creating blue ribbons she has given out at the hospital to staff and visitors at the Carolina Café cafeteria. Ashley, a resident of Darlington, has given out more than 1,000 blue ribbons. “It hurt my heart so much — I just felt I had to do something,” she said. Florence Police Sgt. Terrence Carraway, a Darlington resident, was killed during the ambush Oct. 3, and Florence County Sheriff’s Investigator Farrah Turner died from her injuries Oct. 22.
Submitted photo
