Shooting suspect uses grocery store emergency exit to escape sheriff's deputies

COLUMBUS, N.C. (WLOS) — Sheriff's deputies came close to catching the suspect in a drive-by shooting but he managed to get away from them by running in and out of a grocery store.

Friday evening, dispatchers in Polk County, N.C. — south of Asheville — got a 911 call from someone saying he was shot at by the passenger in a white Volkswagen bug.

Deputies got to the area and found a car that matched the description stopped in the parking lot of a Food Lion supermarket.

They approached it and made contact with the people inside when the front passenger, identified as Dylan Isaiah Thomas, ran away, into the Food Lion.

Then, Thomas got away again, through an emergency exit, into a wooded area, and he hasn't been seen since.

Deputies and officers from two police departments searched the area, even with a K-9, but were not able to find him.

Detectives spent the weekend processing evidence, including a gun from the car believed to be the one used in the shooting.

As for a motive, authorities say they think it was an isolated incident involving a personal relationship dispute.

Anyone with information on where Dylan Isaiah Thomas may be is asked to call the Polk County Sheriff's Office at 828-894-0187.