Michael Bryan Gardner, 27, of Hickory (originally from Granite Falls), was found dead from a gunshot wound on November 6, 2017, at an address on Main Avenue SW in Hickory. Police located Gardner after an altercation with a known subject; investigators reported the shooting followed an argument between him and another individual.

A 32-year-old man, Thomas Alexander Seabrooks of Stanfield, North Carolina, was indicted on December 4, 2017, in connection with Gardner’s death and later surrendered to authorities on January 2, 2018. The case was handled through Catawba County’s criminal process with the defendant held without bond after turning himself in.

The circumstances leading up to the argument and the exact sequence of events at the scene remain focal points of the investigation. Does anyone have information about Gardner’s last movements or the dispute that preceded the shooting?