( CNN ) -- This week 's shooting death and subsequent dragging of a black man in South Carolina are being investigated as a possible hate crime , the Newberry County Sheriff 's Office said Friday . Sheriff Lee Foster said the body of 30-year-old Anthony Hill was found early Wednesday on a road near an elementary school in the town of Pomaria , 35 miles west-northwest of Columbia . Hill had a single gun shot wound to the head , his body was nearly nude and a rope was around his neck and upper torso , Foster said . Foster said Hill 's body -- which carried no identification -- was found around 4:30 a.m. Wednesday by a motorist , who called 911 . Officers followed a trail of blood and human tissue nine miles to the trailer park where Hill 's co-worker Gregory Collins lives , surrounded his trailer for nearly four hours and finally resorted to tear gas , Foster said . `` He came outside and gave himself up , '' Foster added . Collins , 19 , who is white , is charged with murder . Both men worked in Newberry at the Louis Rich turkey processing plant , said Foster . `` They did know each other ; they worked in the same industry , on the same shift but different divisions , '' said Foster . `` Neighbors told us the two spent most of the day together Tuesday . They were seen on a porch drinking together . '' Hill , an Army veteran who lived in the neighboring county of Fairfield , was estranged from his wife and had two children , Foster said . Investigators have not concluded that the killing is a hate crime , but are looking at it as one , according to Foster . `` We called the FBI out of an abundance of caution , '' he said . `` We have no motive whatsoever as to why these two gentlemen would have been together , then one shoots the other in the head and drags him down the road . It 's a horrific act of violence . '' Collins , who is being held in the Newberry County Detention Center , has been assigned a public defender . Funeral arrangements are pending .
Both men worked in a turkey processing plant . The two were arrested on suspicion of murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Rope around neck and upper torso . Officers follow trail of blood and human tissue to suspect 's house .