A woman accused of shooting a man three times along a busy Davie County highway was captured roughly 17 miles away in Salisbury, bringing a fast-moving manhunt to a close later that Friday. Rachel Sinclair Thompson, 33, was taken into custody Friday in Rowan County, where deputies also recovered the gray Chevrolet Malibu authorities say she used to flee the scene near Mocksville.
Thompson now faces a charge of attempted first-degree murder tied to the shooting, according to an arrest warrant filed in Davie County and reported by the Winston-Salem Journal. The paper also clarified that Thompson lives in Yadkinville, resolving earlier confusion over her age and address that circulated as the search unfolded.
Early Morning Shooting Along Highway 601
According to a statement from the Davie County Sheriff's Office relayed by the Davie County Enterprise-Record, deputies responded at approximately 4:43 a.m. Friday to the 2000 block of NC Highway 601 South in Mocksville. The same Sheriff's Office account specified that the victim, a 39-year-old man, suffered three gunshot wounds before Davie County EMS transported him to a local hospital.
Deputies found the man conscious and speaking with first responders at the scene, according to the Sheriff's Office statement carried in the original reporting from the Mooresville Tribune. Investigators said Thompson left the scene in the gray Malibu, which was later tracked down in Salisbury alongside her arrest, the station's report notes.
Suspect's Prior Court History in Davie County
Court records published by the Davie County Enterprise Record show Thompson previously appeared in Davie County District Court in October 2023 on traffic-related charges, including driving while license revoked. That earlier case offers a glimpse of her prior contact with the local court system, though it is unrelated to the current attempted murder charge.
Law enforcement coordination has featured in other recent Davie County cases as well.
Steep Penalties Under State Law
Attempted first-degree murder is classified as a Class B1 felony under North Carolina law, carrying a mandatory minimum prison sentence of 15 to 20 years for a defendant with no prior felony convictions, according to legal reporting by Mountain Xpress. That places the charge among the most serious non-capital offenses on the books in the state.
The case echoes another violent episode along the same corridor: Hoodline previously reported that a shooter who fired on truckers near Mocksville in August 2024 was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison this past July after opening fire on commercial semi-trucks on Interstate 40.
Anyone with additional information about the shooting has been asked to contact the Davie County Sheriff's Office at 336-751-6238.
