Demarlon C. Thomas was 31 when he was killed inside a federal halfway house on Norman Street in Saginaw on the night of Monday, January 23, 2017. Thomas had been serving a 19-year sentence for cocaine distribution since 2008; his sentence was commuted by President Barack Obama in November 2016 and his full release was scheduled for March 2017. He was living at the reentry center while transitioning back into the community.

Two masked men armed with assault-style rifles entered the facility. One held about a dozen other people at gunpoint while the other located Thomas and shot him multiple times in what authorities described as an execution-style killing. The assailants fled before police arrived and no one else was physically harmed.

The Michigan State Police and the FBI investigated, and investigators said Thomas appeared to have been specifically targeted. No arrests have been announced and the shooters identities remain unknown to the public. If anyone has information about that night or the two masked gunmen, please come forward.