Master Trooper Kevin Keith Conner, 38, was killed in the line of duty on October 17, 2018, while conducting a traffic stop on U.S. 701 near Sellers Town Road in Columbus County. Conner, who had served with the North Carolina Highway Patrol for 11 years, was approaching a speeding vehicle when the driver opened fire, striking him. A good Samaritan found Conner and called 911; he was taken to a nearby hospital and pronounced dead.

The driver, a 20-year-old black male, fled in a stolen truck but was later stopped near Fair Bluff after a pursuit ended when his vehicle became disabled on railroad tracks; he tried to run but was captured and taken into custody. He was charged with first-degree murder and held without bond; records cited a prior 2015 conviction for firing into an occupied car in Chadbourn. A second suspect, an 18-year-old black male, was arrested on October 23, 2018, in Loris, South Carolina. Investigators say he was in the truck during the shooting and he was also charged with first-degree murder, with prior convictions including possession of a firearm by a felon and identity theft.

The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, the Columbus County Sheriff’s Office, and the North Carolina Highway Patrol worked the case.

Did anyone in the area see the traffic stop or the stolen truck that night?