On the night of February 12, 2026, 18-year-old Terrell Thomas was shot inside the Hugine Suites residential complex on the South Carolina State University campus in Orangeburg. Thomas was not a student; he was taken to MUSC Health Orangeburg but died shortly after arrival. The same shooting also killed 19-year-old Henry L. Crittington and wounded a third person.

Law enforcement says the violence began during a dispute over a marijuana transaction. Investigators arrested 18-year-old Khamanti Lytrel Kennedy, not a student, and charged him with murder; authorities say Kennedy arrived on campus with three others that night and that he was already out on bond for a prior gun-related charge on the same campus. Kennedy was arraigned and denied bond.

Thomas was the baby and only boy among his mother’s six children, a 2025 graduate and a football player since age six. He leaves behind his mother, three sisters, and one-year-old twins; funeral services were held at Good Hope AME Church in Cope, South Carolina.

Anyone who knew Terrell, was at Hugine Suites that night, or has information about the shooting is encouraged to come forward.