On the night of December 25, 2025, 21-year-old Keonta Pate was shot inside an apartment at the McIntosh Apartments on Hood Street in Laurinburg, North Carolina. Responders found Pate with a critical gunshot wound around 11:00 p.m.; he was taken to Scotland Memorial Hospital and pronounced dead shortly after arrival.

Police say the shooting arose from a domestic dispute during a holiday gathering. A verbal argument between Pate and his mother’s boyfriend escalated and a weapon was discharged, killing the victim. Laurinburg Police identified and arrested Maurice Deshawn McCoy, the mother’s boyfriend, in connection with the shooting and processed him into the legal system.

Did anyone in Laurinburg attend that gathering or have information about what led up to the argument?