Fatal Florence hotel shooting linked to armed robbery

Florence County sheriff’s deputies are investigating a fatal shooting outside a Florence hotel room Monday morning.

It happened about 7 a.m. at the Thunderbird Inn, located at 2004 W. Lucas St., at the U.S. 52/Interstate 95 intersection, Capt. Brett Camp said.

The 83-year-old victim, identified by Florence County Coroner M.G. “Bubba” Matthews as Clair Chaffin of Archer, Fla., was shot while he was in the process of packing his vehicle, Camp said.

Chaffin was shot after being confronted by two men during what investigators think was an attempted armed robbery, the captain said.

Chaffin was taken to an area hospital, where he apparently died of a single gunshot wound to his body. An autopsy to be performed at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston is expected to confirm the cause of his death, Matthews said.

Chaffin is a World War II veteran who landed at Iwo Jima on Feb. 19, 1945, according to a February 2008 report in The Gainesville (Fla.) Sun.

A native of Jackson, Mich., Chaffin dropped out of high school in the 10th grade to join the Navy and “even the score” for the death of his two brothers, Elmer and Kenneth, in the war, according to the September newsletter of the Gator Detachment of the Marine Corps League Inc. in Gainesville, Fla. He also sang in the Great Lakes Naval Choir.

Following his return from the war, Chaffin attended junior college in St. Petersburg, Fla., majoring in building construction. He spent the next 54 years coordinating and supervising major Department of Defense and Veterans Administration construction projects in Alabama, Indiana and throughout Florida, according to the newsletter. In recognition of his educational sacrifice to serve his country, then-Gov. Jeb Bush awarded Chaffin a full high school diploma from the state of Florida in 2004.

Chaffin’s shooting death may be related to a robbery that happened in Richland County at 2 a.m. Sunday, according to a press release from Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott.

That crime happened at the Motel 6 located at 7541 Nates Road where an off-duty probation agent was robbed at gunpoint of her credentials and state-issued .40-caliber handgun, Lott said.

The probation agent was working a security detail at the motel when two unknown black men approached her while she was sitting in her car, Lott said.

The agent said the suspects fled in a burgundy Nissan bearing S.C. license tag DDE 725, which Lott said matches the description of the vehicle involved in Monday morning’s fatal Florence County shooting.

Investigators are working to determine if the weapon used in the Florence homicide is the same as the weapon stolen in the Richland County robbery, Lott said.

Anyone with information about these crimes is asked to call the state Crime Stoppers hotline at (888) CRIME SC (274-6372). Callers need not reveal their identities.

Count on News13, scnow.com and the Morning News for more on this story as it becomes available.