The tragic murder of a South Carolina mother in early May has gone virtually unreported by the legacy media.
Six illegal immigrants, ages 13 to 21, have been arrested and charged in connection with what prosecutors are calling the “random” killing of 40-year-old Larisha Sharell Thompson. And authorities say the suspects have shown no remorse for their actions.
On Monday’s show, Megyn was joined by Emily Jashinsky, D.C. correspondent for UnHerd, and Eliana Johnson, editor-in-chief of The Washington Free Beacon, to discuss the heinous killing and why it is being ignored by the press.
The Murder
Outside of Fox News, The New York Post, and a few local outlets in the Palmetto State, you would be hard-pressed to find any coverage of what happened to Thompson, a black mother of two who was reportedly on her way to a friend’s house when she was shot and killed in her car on May 2.
Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office deputies found Thompson dead with a gunshot wound behind the wheel of her vehicle on Riverside Road in Lancaster, South Carolina. Ten days later, on May 12, authorities announced the arrests of Asael Aminadas Torres-Chirinos, 21; Jarby Ardon Ramos-Odari, 18; Jeyson Sobied Pineda-Salgado, 17; and three juveniles (ages 13, 14, and 15) in connection with the murder and a separate burglary incident that occurred just days prior. All six suspects are said to be illegal migrants from Honduras.
Lancaster Sheriff Barry Faile alleged during a news conference that the suspects pulled up alongside Thompson and fatally shot her in what is being described as a “random robbery attempt.” Authorities believe the six men were in a vehicle being driven by Torres-Chirinos, who is also accused of firing the fatal shot. The men allegedly then attempted to enter Thompson’s vehicle but fled the scene upon realizing it was locked.
According to The Rock Hill Herald, 6th Circuit Deputy Solicitor Melissa McGinnis said in a May 14 hearing that they “all admit they went out to rob a car.” Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Justin Weiland testified the group used the phrases “mission fail” and “this is just the beginning” in text messages exchanged after the murder.
“The text messages that have been cited in open court show a complete lack of remorse by the defendants,” former South Carolina Attorney General Charlie Condon told Fox News Digital. “So, the evidence indicates… clearly, a premeditated plan. Then, after the murder is accomplished, there’s just no remorse whatsoever or any regret expressed by any of them for murdering this innocent lady.”
This same group has also been implicated in the April 29 burglary of a convenience store located just a seven-minute drive away from where Thompson was killed. The suspects allegedly fired a handgun at a security camera and bathroom door at the store, and law enforcement determined that ballistic evidence recovered from the murder scene came from the same 9mm handgun.
The three adult suspects are charged with murder, attempted armed robbery, and second-degree burglary. Torres-Chirinos is also charged with two counts of firearms possession during the commission of a crime and one count of firearms possession by an unlawful alien. A judge denied bond for the trio.
A May 15 memo from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has placed detainers on all six criminal illegal aliens as they await criminal prosecution in South Carolina.” DHS also said Torres-Chirinos was previously arrested in 2023 for domestic violence.
The Radio Silence
Megyn said “the depravity is shocking” from the suspects who seem “completely indifferent to the value of human life,” and she said the silence from the media is similarly stunning. “It is shocking that not one, not two, but six individuals will partake in this crime, and not one of them seems even remotely remorseful,” she noted. And I’m telling you, if those were six white American boys [and the] same decedent, this story would be everywhere.”
In Johnson’s view, this tragedy is the latest reminder of why the issue of illegal immigration was such a factor in the 2024 election. “I think you’re hitting on why illegal immigration and these deportations have been such a potent issue for [President Donald Trump],” she said. “Americans read about cases like this… and the feeling is just outrage.”
While Jashinsky said “pro-immigrant groups and open border advocates – libertarian and left wing – will always regurgitate their research that migrants to the country commit crimes at lower levels of the domestic population,” Johnson believes most Americans don’t want to hear it. “That just doesn’t resonate as a counterargument because the feeling is that any single act committed shouldn’t have been because people shouldn’t have been in the country in the first place,” she explained. “And it is why names like Laken Riley become famous from coast to coast in this country, and why the issue of immigration has become such a potent one for Donald Trump [since] 2016.”
In being “so reflexively anti-Trump” during his first term that even policies put in place by the Obama administration were admonished by Democrats and the media, Jashinsky said former President Joe Biden “thought he was reading the mood of the electorate” when he essentially opened the border. In reality, she said that mood shift had “artificially been represented by the media.”
She blamed the “cowardice,” “stupidity,” and “incompetence” of the left for where we are today. “It is just galling,” Jashinsky concluded. “[Democrats and the media] put themselves in this situation and they put the American people in this situation because they were too afraid… to repeatedly cover the story with the level of importance that it deserved.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Jashinsky and Johnson by tuning in to episode 1,084 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.