LEXINGTON, S.C. — An 8-year-old was fatally shot during a robbery that had been set up by his dad's girlfriend.
It happened a year ago and police are still looking for his killer.
Mason Hanahan was visiting his father's house when a shoot out occurred during what authorities say was a plot to rob the home.
“During the course of their investigation last spring [2019], detectives determined Hanahan was selling and storing illegal narcotics at his home on Cedar Vale Court,” Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon said. “Investigators located several pounds of marijuana, thousands of dollars in cash and several guns hidden throughout the house.”
Austin Hanahan, Mason's father, was injured during the shooting but has recovered.
Linda Lyn Monette, 23 and Austin Hanahan's girlfriend who was there at the time of the crime, was charged with murder, attempted murder, criminal conspiracy, burglary and armed robbery after authorities later discovered that she help set up the burglary that ended in tragedy. She is still in jail awaiting trial.
Another man was charged in connection with the conspiracy but those charges were later dropped.
The father, Austin, later turned himself into authorities after recovering from his gunshot wound, in relation to the drugs in the home.
Captain Adam Myrick with the Lexington County Sheriff's Department says they are still actively looking for the suspect who actually broke into the home and shot the boy and his father, "We have not let this case go cold. This isn't a cold case- this is a one year old case. That we have continued to work on," Myrick told News19.
Myrick says they have minimal updates on the year anniversary one of them being a description of a car that was in the area during the crime. The car is described as a dark sedan, a boxy 80s model that some would describe as a "grandma car."
"Where we are right now is we have some slightly different information on the suspect who we would best describe as a tall, slender, dark-skinned, black male," Myrick says of the little information they have, "We understand that's not a very good description and certainly not very specific but its all we have to work from right now. We've got that car description and we can also say that that individual who exchanged gun-fire with the other person in the home that night was not injured- the evidence simply doesn't show that."
You can give tips to deputies anonymously through the Crimestoppers App or their tipline at 1-888-CRIME-SC. They recognize that not everyone wants to work with police but you can use these options to remain anonymous and help bring justice to the family of Mason.