Violence at liver mush plant ends with employee shot in the chest, NC cops say

One of the employees at a liver mush plant in the Charlotte region was shot in the chest on the job, according to investigators in North Carolina.

The victim remains hospitalized at Spartanburg Medical Center in South Carolina, officials said.

It happened on Tuesday, Jan. 13, at the Mack’s Liver Mush plant on Hopewell Road northwest of Shelby, the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

“The (911) caller advised that an employee had been shot in the chest and the shooter was still inside the plant,” the sheriff’s office said.

“Deputies with the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office and the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to Mack’s Liver Mush. Upon arrival of law enforcement, the suspect was taken into custody.”

The suspect was identified as 37-year-old Donta Laney of Forest City, and he is charged with attempted first degree murder, officials said. He is being held without bond, officials said.

Court documents report the shooting was done with “malice aforethought,” but a motive was not released.

“Mack’s Liver Mush ownership has and will continue to cooperate with law enforcement during this investigation,” the sheriff’s office said.

The plant, about a 60-mile drive northwest from uptown Charlotte, noted in a Jan. 8 Facebook post that its liver mush wrapping machine was “down” and repairs were scheduled to happen Monday, Jan. 12.

Liver mush is a type of sausage “made by cooking pig liver with the fatty parts of a hog’s head meat and skin,” according to the NC Folklife Institute. “That’s cooked until tender, ground into a mush, mixed with cornmeal, and combined usually with onions, sweet spices and black pepper. That mixture is then put in a loaf pan and baked,” the institute says.

This story was originally published January 14, 2026 at 5:37 AM with the headline "Violence at liver mush plant ends with employee shot in the chest, NC cops say."