MPs: two found dead in a suicide homicide outside Union County home

Union County, North Carolina – The Union County Sheriff’s Office is investigating after a man and a woman were found shot near a house in Waxhaw on Sunday night.

Deputies responded to a house located on Collins Road around 6pm after receiving a call from an armed entity / domestic unrest. Upon arrival at the scene, officers found 38-year-old Erica Thomas dead on the porch of the house due to apparent gunshot wounds.

According to authorities, 41-year-old Joshua Laney was also on the porch alive but badly wounded from a single gunshot wound.

Deputies guarded the scene and did Laney. He was later pronounced dead at a local hospital, officials said.

During the initial investigation, the sheriff’s office determined that Laney and Thomas were previously married.

The incident began as verbal domestic unrest in the house between Thomas and Laney, investigators determined. During the confrontation, Laney presented a rifle, shot Thomas and then shot himself, according to a press release.

At the time of the incident against Laney there was an active order to protect against domestic violence, and all known firearms in his possession were confiscated by the sheriff’s office. Investigators are working to find out the source of the weapons used during the incident and the motives for the murder / suicide.

Anyone with information about the incident is encouraged to call UCSO at (704) 283-3789.