Two charged in fatal Rock Hill shooting

Two people were charged in connection with the killing of a 20-year-old man after what police described as an apparent drug deal at a Rock Hill apartment complex early Wednesday.

The shooting happened about 12:20 a.m. in the 100 block of Cherry Laurel Lane, which is off Hardin Street a few blocks from West Main Street.

Isaiah Shinn, 20, was pronounced dead at the scene from a single gunshot wound, York County Coroner Sabrina Gast said. Autopsy and toxicology reports are pending.

Ernest Markevius Thompson, 24, of Lancaster, is charged with murder, possession of a firearm during a crime of violence and two counts of attempted murder. Lauren Nicole Rawlinson, 24, of Rock Hill, is charged with accessory after the fact of murder.

Officers found Thompson and Rawlinson after the shooting in an apartment on Cherry Laurel Lane not far from the crime scene, Capt. Mark Bollinger said. The gun police believed was used in the crime was in the apartment.

Two other people were in the vehicle with Shinn, Bollinger said, prompting the attempted murder charges. Those people were not injured, he said.

Warrants read aloud during a bond hearing Wednesday afternoon said Thompson fired a Smith & Wesson .40-caliber handgun 16 times at the car while it was backing away “after the drug transaction.” The fatal shot hit Shinn in the chest.

Investigators have not released details of the alleged drug transaction.

“It was just by the grace of God that we only had one victim,” Detective Bruce Haire said during the hearing. “There could have been three victims to the homicide.”

A Rock Hill municipal judge denied bond for Thompson’s attempted murder and weapon charges. He will have to go before a circuit court judge for a bond hearing on the murder charge.

Rawlinson, who has a child with Thompson and was present at the time of the shooting, is accused of trying to create an alibi for Thompson after the shooting, warrants state.

Haire asked for a high bond or bond denial for Rawlinson “due to the initial lack of cooperation and the hard work we had to go through to finally get some information after being misled.”

Rawlinson’s bond was set at $100,000.

At least a dozen of Shinn’s family members were in court Wednesday, and the same amount of family members were there in support of Thompson and Rawlinson. They declined to speak with reporters after the hearing.

This is Rock Hill’s third homicide this year.

This story was originally published May 18, 2016 at 9:40 AM with the headline "Two charged in fatal Rock Hill shooting."