On the evening of June 22, 2015, 29-year-old Kendall Thomas was shot on Aaron Street in Orangeburg, South Carolina. Thomas, a Black male, approached a gray Honda Accord that had pulled up and leaned in to speak with the driver when a single gunshot struck his abdomen. He was taken to the Regional Medical Center in a private vehicle but died of his wound.

The Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Department opened an investigation. Eyewitnesses identified 22-year-old Deonte Pelzer of Bowman as the driver of the Honda and the person who fired the shot. Pelzer was located at an apartment complex in St. George on June 23, 2015, taken into custody without incident and charged with Thomas’s murder. The community responded with grief as the legal process moved forward.

If anyone has information about Thomas that could help clarify what happened that night, please come forward.