On the morning of July 27, 2023, officers from the Laurinburg Police Department responded to reports of an unresponsive person inside a vehicle at a convenience store at McColl and Hasty Roads in Laurinburg, North Carolina. Responding officers found 55-year-old Clifton Dale Thomas of Bennettsville, South Carolina, deceased in the driver’s seat of a black Honda Pilot from an apparent gunshot wound. Witnesses said Thomas had been in a verbal altercation with another male before gunshots were heard; some witnesses reported seeing the suspect flee in a light blue Hyundai.

The shooting has deeply affected the Laurinburg and Bennettsville communities, and family and friends have expressed grief and a desire for justice. Authorities say they are investigating the circumstances leading up to the altercation and urge anyone with information to come forward.

Did anyone see or hear anything at the McColl and Hasty Roads convenience store that morning that could help the investigation?