UPATED: Teen Becomes 5th Death in SC Serial Killer Spree

***1:20 a.m. Update July 5***

Spartanburg, SC—Officials in Cherokee County say that a teenager has become the fifth victim of a serial killer. 

At a press conference held Saturday afternoon, Cherokee County officials said that 15-year old Abby Tyler died around 11:25 Saturday morning at Spartanburg Regional Hospital. Tyler was found shot, along with her father, Stephen, inside the family’s business at Tyler Home Center in Gaffney around 7:15 Thursday night. Stephen Tyler was pronounced dead at the scene.

Cherokee County Coroner Dennis Fowler says that law enforcement continues to work around the clock and follow-up on every lead and reports involving descriptions of the suspect and the suspect’s vehicle.  Fowler asked that people continue to pray for the Tyler family, along with the rest of the victim’s families and the Cherokee County community as a whole. 

The suspect is a white man about 6’ 2”.  He weighs about 250 lbs and had salt and pepper colored hair when the first witness saw him.  Authorities are also saying the suspect had large blue eyes. 

WSPA-TV News Channel 7’s Elizabeth Owens has more on this story.

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***1:15 a.m. Update July 5***

GAFFNEY, S.C. (AP) - Authorities say a teenage girl shot in her father’s store has become the fifth person slain by a suspected serial killer.

Cherokee County Coroner Dennis Fowler says 15-year-old Abby Tyler died at a Spartanburg hospital, Saturday morning. Her death came two days after she was wounded and her father was killed Thursday at their family’s furniture and appliance shop near downtown Gaffney.

Sheriff Bill Blanton says investigators believe the killings are linked and the search is on for a suspected serial killer. An 83-year-old mother and her daughter were shot to death on Wednesday, and a 63-year-old peach farmer was found dead a week ago.

Blanton says all the victims were shot but would not say how the deaths were linked.

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Gaffney, SC—The youngest victim of the suspected serial killer in Cherokee County is fighting to stay alive Friday night.

Authorities aren’t releasing her name, but several family friends tell us Stephen Tyler’s teenage daughter is named Abby. She was also found shot at Tyler Home Center Thursday night.

Friends say Abby just finished her sophomore year at Gaffney High School and was active with the Cherokee Avenue Baptist Church’s youth group.  They say she was the nicest, sweetest girl you’d want to meet.

“She’s a good Christian girl; it’s not fair that it happened to her,“ says friend Cali Swofford.

“She’s had a lot of friends, it’s hard to imagine anything like this to happen to her,“ says Tyler family friend Lindsay Crawford.

We’re told family and friends have been gathering at the hospital. They are all praying and hoping she will pull through this.

At last report, a family friend said Abby was in critical condition.

The serial killer has shot and killed four people in the past week, including Abby’s dad Stephen.