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Pregnant Navy veteran killed at Christmas party days before her wedding, NC family says

Precious Dyer was engaged and scheduled to be married in January, her family said.
Precious Dyer was engaged and scheduled to be married in January, her family said. Tijuana Locus

Precious Dyer was four months pregnant and just days away from getting married when she went out to celebrate Christmas in North Carolina, family members said.

The 29-year-old was at a holiday event when she was shot early Sunday, Dec. 26, officials told WNCN and WITN.

“Hearing the news that something was wrong, I was just hoping that whatever happened — whatever injuries she had — she was able to recover or at least be able to save the baby,” Dyer’s mother, Tijuana Locus, told McClatchy News in a phone interview.

But that didn’t happen. Dyer died at the scene of the shooting in Wilson, roughly 50 miles east of Raleigh.

Wilson County deputies said Dyer was at the Evolution Music Hall over the weekend when a fight broke out. She wasn’t part of the fight and may have been an “innocent patron,” according to officials.

Dyer is remembered as the oldest of 10 kids and the “backbone” of her family.

“My daughter will be greatly missed because to us, she was our everything,” said her dad, Dwight Locus.

Dyer, a Greenville resident, was also a Navy veteran who was known to take on challenges and embark on adventures. She would swim with dolphins or go hang gliding, according to her mom.

“She was always trying to go see something that she had never seen before,” Tijuana Locus said.

After the death of the mom-to-be, the Wilson County Sheriff’s Office in a news release said it hopes to hear from people who attended the Christmas event. Those with information are asked to submit tips on the department’s app or call deputies at 252-237-2118.

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This story was originally published December 28, 2021 at 9:38 AM with the headline "Pregnant Navy veteran killed at Christmas party days before her wedding, NC family says."

Simone Jasper
The News & Observer
Simone Jasper is a service journalism reporter at The News & Observer in Raleigh, North Carolina.
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