On the night of September 6, 2020, a dispute at Benson’s Community Center in Kellyton, Alabama, escalated into fatal gunfire. Officers arriving about 2 a.m. found 20-year-old Antwian Laquan Morgan of Dadeville suffering from a gunshot wound; he was taken to Russell Medical Center and later died. A 32-year-old man from Sylacauga was also shot in the leg and survived.

Investigators say a fight had occurred earlier in the community center parking lot and that people from that altercation returned later with firearms, damaging multiple vehicles during the shooting. At the time Morgan was killed, he was out on a $200,000 bond facing charges of murder, attempted murder, and four counts of robbery from a March incident in Camp Hill.

Authorities appealed for public tips, and just over six weeks after the shooting U.S. Marshalls arrested 18-year-old Christopher Jarome Thomas in Goodwater; he was charged with murder and later indicted on murder and first-degree assault. Anyone with information about the shooting or who knew those involved is asked to come forward.