CONWAY, SC (WBTW) – Horry County leaders work to come up with ways to combat violence in Longs after a 19-year-old boy was shot and killed this weekend.

In Wednesday’s Horry County Violence Subcommittee meeting, Horry County Police Chief Joseph Hill told county leaders about his visit to the Longs community.

He said he met with the mother of 19-year-old Levi Herman Moody who was shot and killed on Freemont Road in Longs on Saturday.

Moody was a star running back for Loris High School, and Hill says the visit with his mother was an emotional one that highlighted problems in the community.

“I would have loved to have been able to meet him, to congratulate him on his first job, welcome him to the Horry County Police Department, congratulate him on his new baby right on through his whole life. That’s never going to happen because someone with a gun thought that was the right thing to do and took the life of an innocent kid,” said Hill.

Hill told county leaders there will be an increase in police presence and arrests will be made in Longs because he knows there is criminal activity going on there.

“Law enforcement is here to be a part of that fabric in the community, that thin blue line we always talk about it’s interwoven in the community fabric, and so in order for that to be a strong fabric, we all have to be able to come to the table, sit down and talk and listen,” said Hill.

County leaders agreed with Hill that the Longs community is in crisis and said they’re ready to work with religious groups and community leaders to target the youth and stop the mentality of violence before it starts.

Horry County Violence Subcommittee Chair Jimmy Washington says their plan to end the violence will start by building trust with people in Longs.

“We need to go in there and build confidence with people there, showing them that we’ve got a team in Horry County that’s willing to work with them and willing to step up to the plate and make not only in Longs but all the places in Horry County a better place to live and a safer place to live,” said Washington.

Hill says he’s meeting with religious leaders and others who want to see change in the Longs community over the next several days to come up with a plan of action.