On the night of October 8, 2016, 20-year-old Thompson Kotlarich Demas was killed during an armed home invasion at a residence on East Killarney Drive in Moore, South Carolina. Investigators say a group of intruders entered the property and that Demas attempted to intervene in his garage. He was shot in the leg and fatally shot twice in the back; his body was found in the garage about 4:00 a.m. The Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office opened a homicide investigation and processed the scene.

Authorities quickly concluded multiple people were involved and described the suspects as armed teenagers. Four suspects were arrested in the days after the killing. Two of the primary suspects were Carnellious D. Stringer and Keshawn M. Rice; court filings and trial testimony identified Stringer as the person who fired the fatal shots to Demas’s back and Rice as the one who shot him in the leg. In February 2018 Stringer pleaded guilty to murder and armed robbery and received a 30-year sentence.

The loss was especially hard for the family; Demas was remembered by classmates for his athletic ability and friendly personality and was reportedly the second son in the family killed by armed robbers. Does anyone have further information about the case or knew Thompson personally?