A Sunday afternoon stop at a North Augusta gas station ended in a double homicide that also involved an officer-involved shooting. Jewel Harden, 76, of Hephzibah, Georgia, had just left church and stopped at the Sprint station on Edgefield Road when a shooting occurred around 3 p.m. Responding North Augusta Public Safety officers encountered an armed man in the parking lot; when the man raised an AR-style pistol an officer fired and struck him. That injured man was taken to a hospital and remains hospitalized.

Inside the store officers found Harden and 33-year-old Thomas B. Lilly Jr. of Williston, South Carolina, both fatally shot. The Aiken County Coroner confirmed both died at the scene. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is leading the investigation into the double homicide and the related officer-involved shooting. No motive or suspect identity has been released and no arrest has been announced.

Harden was a devoted leader at the Crown Kingdom Cultural Center and is remembered by friends as quiet, gentle, and committed to helping low-income families. Does anyone have information about Harden, Lilly, or the events at the Sprint station that afternoon?