A man was killed and a second person was wounded in a shooting on Saturday afternoon, November 7, at a smoke shop on Florence Boulevard in Florence, Alabama, and a 28-year-old Florence man was arrested at the scene and later charged with murder, according to the Florence Police Department. The shooting was reported at about 3:00 p.m. at the Black Light Smoke Shop, 1555 Florence Boulevard.
Source: Florence Police Department, via NewsWatch reporting
Officers from the Florence Police Department's Patrol Shift Day A responded to the shooting call, which one dispatch timeline put at 3:04 p.m. WAFF 48 News, the NBC affiliate serving the Shoals and Huntsville, reported the same toll — one dead and one injured — and said Florence police were advising the public to avoid the area near the 1500 block of Florence Boulevard on Saturday afternoon while officers worked the scene.
Source: WAFF 48 News (Gray Television)
When officers arrived, they located two people who had been shot and took a suspect into custody at the scene, police said. One victim was later identified as Joshua Darren McClain, 39, of Florence, who died as a result of the shooting. The second victim sustained a gunshot wound, received medical attention at the scene, and the injury was described as non-life-threatening. Police have not released the second victim's name.
Arrest and charges
The suspect was identified as Rayshon Isaiah Thompson, 28, also of Florence. After further investigation, Florence police detectives determined that probable cause existed to arrest Thompson in connection with the shooting, and he was charged with murder and felony reckless endangerment, according to the department's account. The charges are allegations only: Thompson is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.
Thompson is being held at the Lauderdale County Detention Center without bond, pending an Aniah's Law hearing, authorities said. No motive for the shooting has been announced, and police have not said whether McClain, the second victim and Thompson knew one another.
Where it happened
Florence Boulevard is one of Florence's main commercial corridors, a strip of shops, restaurants and services in the city that serves as the seat of Lauderdale County in Alabama's Shoals region, in the state's northwest, across the Tennessee River from Muscle Shoals. A Saturday-afternoon shooting at a shop on that corridor drew a large police response in the middle of the weekend shopping day, and the department's public advisory told people to stay clear of the 1500 block while the investigation was under way.
The custody status turns on Alabama's Aniah's Law, the state constitutional provision named for Aniah Blanchard, a 19-year-old student who was kidnapped and killed in 2019. The law allows an Alabama judge, after a hearing, to deny bail to a person charged with certain serious violent felonies, including murder, instead of setting a bond amount. That is why Thompson is described as held without bond pending a hearing rather than held on a set cash bond: a judge will decide at the Aniah's Law hearing whether he remains in custody without bond as the case proceeds.
Thompson remains at the Lauderdale County Detention Center without bond pending his Aniah's Law hearing, at which a judge will decide his custody status. The Florence Police Department's investigation into the circumstances of the shooting is continuing; police have not announced a motive, have not named the surviving victim, and have not said when the first court dates will be set.
For readers, the verified picture on Saturday night is narrow and should be read that way: two people were shot at the Black Light Smoke Shop at about 3 p.m., McClain, 39, died, a second person survived with a non-life-threatening wound, and Thompson, 28, was taken into custody at the scene and charged with murder and felony reckless endangerment. Everything beyond that — why it happened and what led up to it — remains under investigation, and this story will be updated if police release those details.