DETROIT -- Former World Boxing Council super welterweight champion Duane Thomas was fatally shot while walking out of a party store Tuesday night.

Thomas, 39, of Detroit, died after the shooting, police spokesman Claude Fox said. Other details were not immediately available.

In 1986, Thomas won the then-vacant WBC super welterweight title by upsetting John "The Beast" Mugabi of Uganda, only to lose the belt the next year.

In 1988 in Italy, Thomas was knocked out in a WBC super-welterweight title bout against then-champion Gianfranco Rosi of Italy.

Thomas' last bout came in April at Detroit's Joe Louis Arena, where he improved his professional record to 31-3 with a decision over Abraham Bruno of Orlando, Fla., in a six-round light heavyweight fight.