A 59-year-old man is dead after a confrontation in a Spindale shopping center parking lot turned deadly Friday night, and as of Saturday, police say no criminal charges have been filed against the person who fired the shot. Wesley Tracy Rhodes died shortly after 8:30 p.m. at 239 W. Main Street, following what investigators describe as a chaotic scene that began when a local business worker asked him to leave.
Spindale police were called to the shopping center just after 8:30 p.m. Friday after multiple 911 calls, according to WYFF. When officers arrived, they found Rhodes suffering from a gunshot wound; he was already deceased. Police later confirmed he had been struck by a single shot, according to Cops & Congress.
Police say several witnesses described Rhodes as acting irrationally before the shooting, and that one witness reported he had approached a woman's car and possibly tried to get inside it, according to a report from WLOS. Those details, investigators say, help frame what happened just before the fatal encounter.
A Warning to Leave, Then a Return
According to officials, the suspect was a worker and part-owner of a local business who had asked Rhodes to leave the parking lot. Rhodes briefly left the area but then came back, approaching the suspect again in an aggressive manner, the station's report states. Shopping-center video reportedly showed Rhodes yelling, screaming, and lunging at the man, appearing to strike him, before the suspect fired a single shot that killed him, per the same account from Fox Carolina.
The Rutherford County Sheriff's Office, Rutherfordton Police Department, and the Tri-City Violent Crimes Task Force all assisted Spindale police with the investigation, according to Fox Carolina. Police have not released the name of the shooter.
No Charges Filed as Case Heads to Prosecutors
As of the latest reports, no criminal charges have been filed in the case. Police say the suspect has been cooperative with law enforcement throughout the investigation, and that the completed case file will be presented to the Rutherford County District Attorney's Office, which will determine whether charges are warranted.
The investigation remains ongoing, police say, and no further details about the timeline for a charging decision have been released.
