On the evening of Friday, March 13, 2026, 31-year-old Avery Ryan Blackmon was found unresponsive on West Calhoun Street in Dillon, South Carolina, with an apparent gunshot wound. Officers from the Dillon Police Department responded about 8:18 p.m.; the Dillon County Coroner pronounced Blackmon dead at the scene and his death is being investigated as a homicide.

Investigators identified a suspect and on Wednesday, March 18, 2026, 31-year-old Matthew Lee Scarborough, Jr., also of Dillon, was taken into custody by the City of Dillon Police Department with assistance from the Dillon County Sheriff’s Office and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. Scarborough was charged with murder, possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime, and being a felon in possession of a firearm, and was booked into the Dillon County Detention Center to await a bond hearing. Authorities say the investigation remains active and ongoing.

If anyone in Dillon has information about what happened to Avery Blackmon on March 13, please come forward to assist the investigation.