A quiet afternoon in Laurens, South Carolina, turned deadly on August 12, 2024. Erin Lee Thomas, 34, of Woodruff, had just left a child custody hearing at the Laurens County Courthouse when he was struck by a vehicle driven by 32-year-old Stephen Andrew White of Laurens. After hitting Thomas with the car, White allegedly exited the vehicle and shot him in the courthouse parking lot.

Thomas was critically injured, airlifted to a nearby hospital, and pronounced dead. Deputies from the Laurens County Sheriff’s Office took White into custody without resistance; he was booked into the county detention center and denied bond at a subsequent hearing. White has been charged with murder in connection with Thomas’s death.

This attack occurred in broad daylight following a court appearance related to the parties’ custody dispute. Does anyone have information about the hearing or observed activity at the courthouse parking lot that afternoon?