Gun Violence Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Teachers Could Carry Guns In W.Va. Classrooms Under Bill

A bill under discussion in the West Virginia House of Delegates would allow teachers to carry guns on school property if they complete a state-mandated training.

Teachers could soon be authorized to carry firearms in West Virginia classrooms, provided that they complete state-mandated training.

The House Judiciary Committee reviewed House Bill 4299 on Wednesday. The bill would create a position in schools known as a school protection officer.

The position would be a secondary role available to any school administrator, support personnel or elementary or secondary school teacher. These individuals would have to complete security and firearm safety training and could then receive authorization to bring a gun to school.

The bill received majority support from committee members, but only after more than an hour of impassioned debate.

Proponents of the bill said it would provide immediate support to school staff when students face the risk of an active shooter.

Under the bill, “we won’t have teachers, as in one instance, laying her body over top of her students,” said Del. Laura Kimble, R-Harrison, who sponsored the bill.

“Instead, she will have something to defend herself,” she said. “That’s why I’m a sponsor of this bill.”

Kimble also said it reaffirmed the state’s concealed carry law, which allows residents over age 21 to carry a firearm in public without a license.

Currently, West Virginia residents including teachers are prohibited from bringing guns onto school property, regardless of whether they have a permit for it.

Under the bill, teachers would be required to keep their firearm within their “personal control while that firearm or device is on school property.”

Critics of the bill, however, expressed doubts that increasing the number of guns in West Virginia schools would reduce gun-related injuries or deaths.

Del. Evan Hansen, D-Monongalia, noted that the bill would create a new armed position in addition to other armed roles like prevention resource officers and school resource officers.

He added that another pending bill, House Bill 4851, would allow school security officers to carry firearms on school property.

“So, there’ll be four different types of people with guns in the schools?” he asked.

Del. Shawn Fluharty, D-Ohio, expressed concern over a potential limit on training for school protection officers in the bill. The text of the bill states that school protection officers must complete “initial instruction and training that shall not exceed 24 hours.”

Also during the meeting, Del. Geoff Foster, R-Putnam, proposed an amendment to the bill that would have required school districts to designate an eligible school employee to serve as a school protection officer.

Counsel and committee members expressed concern that this would contradict the voluntary nature of the position, as established under the bill. Ultimately, Foster withdrew his amendment.

After extensive debate, a majority of committee members voted in favor of the bill, sending it to the House floor with the recommendation that it pass.

Charleston Activists Call For Action On Gun Violence

The West Virginia chapter of Moms Demand Action will host a Wear Orange event to honor the lives of those affected by gun violence and elevate gun violence prevention efforts nationwide.

The West Virginia chapter of Moms Demand Action will host a Wear Orange event Friday June 2 from 5 p.m. – 7 p.m. at St. Mark’s United Methodist Church to honor the lives of those affected by gun violence and elevate gun violence prevention efforts nationwide.

Diane Pendleton is event lead for the Charleston chapter of Moms Demand Action.

“Moms Demand Action is a part of an organization called Everytown for Gun Safety,” she said. “We are all walks of life. We’re a nonpartisan group. There’s 10 million supporters now and we work together for gun safety. We work together for gun violence prevention and for keeping our families safe.”

June 2 is National Gun Violence Awareness Day, and the event is part of Wear Orange Weekend. Wear Orange originated on June 2, 2015 — what would have been Hadiya Pendleton’s 18th birthday. It began with teenagers in Chicago, who wanted to honor their friend, Hadiya, after she was shot and killed on a playground at 15 years old.

“Her friends got together and came up with the idea of orange because it is the color to protect people from guns, for example, hunters,” Pendleton said. “Orange honors Hydeia Pendleton. There’s also 120 people shot every day in the United States, as well as hundreds more that are wounded.”

The event will feature speakers, food and activities for children.

“Community events bring the community together to raise awareness and elevate prevention and education. Specifically, we’re working together to keep the guns out of the wrong hands,” Pendleton said.

She said the organization is focused on keeping guns out of the places where they should not be, such as schools and other places where children are.

“We can also prevent the unintentional shootings where children gain access to the gun and just a horrific tragedy happens in the home,” Pendleton said. “And I’ll add to that two thirds of the gun deaths are from suicide, and we believe there are ways to prevent this.”

Pendleton said the event is a call to action for community members.

“Call your state senators to demand common sense gun safety laws,“ Pendleton said. “And examples of those are background checks on every sale, red flag laws, safe storage requirements, and now a ban on assault weapons.”

Gov. Justice Discusses COVID-19, Gun Violence In First COVID Press Conference In Two Weeks

Gov. Jim Justice held his first COVID-19 press conference in 12 days Tuesday morning, after a tick-related illness led him to cancel last week’s press conference.

Amidst discussions of gun violence and the upcoming publication of the state’s new foster care dashboard, Justice and his advisors expressed wary optimism at the state’s improving COVID-19 effective reproductive value.

However, state COVID-19 czar Clay Marsh pointed to increases in hospitalizations to warn West Virginians that things are not over. Reduced testing appears to be a particular issue.

“For the current surge that is going on around the country and for the increased cases we’ve seen in West Virginia, we have not been able to track that very well,” Marsh said. “We are close to 100,000 average cases a day in the United States. Really smart authorities think that we are picking up probably as few as five to 10 percent of all positive cases that are circulating.”

Marsh noted the state has six times as many COVID-19 cases now than at the same point in 2021.

Gun Violence

The press conference often pulled away from COVID-19-related issues, and much of Justice’s time was spent discussing gun violence.

Justice invited Jeff Sandy, secretary of the West Virginia Department of Homeland Security to speak briefly about the West Virginia Safe Schools Helpline. The helpline is a non-emergency number (1-866-723-3982) designed to screen calls for information that may have a negative impact on students, staff or property at any school in West Virginia, including gun violence.

Justice commented broadly on the state of the nation’s culture, including pornography and violent video games, that he blamed in part for increased gun violence before discussing gun regulation.

“Do I really feel like that an 18 year old ought to be able to walk in and buy an assault weapon? I don’t,” Justice said. He went on to state that the purchasing age for such weapons should be 21, and that he did not approve of a blanket ban of assault weapons.

Later in the press conference, when asked if he would move to codify an age restriction for gun purchases in the state, Justice expressed skepticism that politicians would allow such a law to pass.

“Until we as people start thinking logically and reasonably as people, and we’re willing to do stuff, instead of looking at how’s this politically going to impact me, it will be a total waste of breath,” Justice said.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Charleston Area Medical Center and Marshall Health.

As Gun Deaths Rise Across The US, Charleston, W.Va. Councilwoman Honors Those Lost To Gun Violence

A recent analysis of data from the Washington Post shows the average number of gun deaths per day is 14 people higher than it was in the last six months of 2020. That was the deadliest year yet for gun violence in America. The report was published not long after the City of Charleston experienced its deadliest month for gun violence in decades.

In April of this year, there were five gun deaths in Charleston within a span of 18 days. According to a report from the city, that’s the highest number of gun deaths in a single month in more than 20 years.

Last week at Haddad Riverfront Park, Charleston City Councilwoman Deanna McKinney held a vigil honoring victims of gun violence in the city. McKinney and volunteers set up oversized pictures of the victims in front of the amphitheater’s stage. The pictures showed their faces, their names and the day they were killed.

McKinney has held this event every year since 2014. That’s when her own son, Tymel McKinney, was shot while eating pizza on her front porch. She said gun violence has only gotten worse since he was killed.

“We’re not having any discussions about it. After the funeral, there’s not a mention of it again. I think that’s the problem we forget. And, that’s why I have pictures out here with names and the date; so we don’t forget,” McKinney said.

India Frith is McKinney’s niece and volunteered at the event. Frith said she recognized a lot of the faces in the pictures in front of the stage.

Pictures of fifteen people who have died from gun violence line the stage at Haddad Riverfront Park Saturday, Jun. 26, 2021 in Charleston, W.Va.

“I lost my cousin Tymel, my god-sister Chastanay Joseph. I lost some friends I went to school with — Treykwon Gibson, Nathaniel Spivey,” Frith said.

Frith, who’s 20, says in her short life, she’s already been to several funerals for young people who have been killed by guns in the city. She added it’s one of the reasons she plans on leaving the state.

“I plan on moving out of West Virginia to not stay here, because you know, the memories here, the people that I’ve lost,” she said.

She said she wishes she could’ve had a normal childhood. As a kid, she rarely went outside to play. To this day, she has to vet potential friends before deciding weather or not to hang out with them.

“I watch who’s around me. Because, you hear some of these stories about like, you know, one of them was killed by some of his friends,” Firth said. “I feel like I have to keep looking over my shoulder. I’ll be like, ‘I think it’s best that we not, hang out or be friends like that.’”

Colleen Moran sits in her office where she sees patients in Charleston, W.Va. Moran is a psychologist who works with children.

The stress of worrying about getting shot weighs heavy on a lot of young people according to Colleen Moran. Moran is a child psychologist for Harmony Health in Charleston.

“For most of us, it would be a once in a lifetime event. For these kids, they expect to hear [gunshots] nightly,” Moran said. “There are kids that come into therapy and you say, ‘So tell me some good things that are going on.’ And, the child looks at you and says, ‘We didn’t hear any gunshots last night.’”

Moran worked on Charleston’s West Side as a psychologist at Mary C. Snow, a majority Black elementary school. She said the fear of gun violence is especially strong there.

“There was one individual with whom I worked, who was having a very difficult day at school that day,” she said. “So, they brought the child to me. Come to find out that the child had been up most of the night because the house that they were staying in, had been shot at for the third time. That kind of fear, that kind of experience, that kind of trauma is extremely difficult for children to deal with, because they never feel safe in the one place that they ought to feel the safest––their home.”

Moran added that it’s not unusual for people living in constant fear of gun violence to seem emotionless or even detached when describing what they’ve experienced.

“That’s self preservation. Because, if you fully felt the loss and the impact of every single victim of gun violence, you would not be able to function,” Moran said.

As for the event, very few people turned out to remember those whose faces lined the stage. There were more pictures of victims than people in the crowd. McKinney said she was disappointed in the turnout.

“It’s really hard, especially with a community where you don’t participate, you don’t get involved,” McKinney said. “It shouldn’t take you to lose someone to get involved. Or, when you lose someone you’re looking for all the support and all these people rally around you. We are supposed to be there for each other at all times.”

Friends Of Slain Beckley Teen Dwayne Richardson Jr. Mourn Loss, Remember His Humor, Positive Spirit

Dwayne Richardson, Jr., a junior at Woodrow Wilson High School in Beckley was the recent victim of an accidental shooting death. Beckley Police say Richardson was killed Sunday by a 20 year old who was careless with an AR-15 rifle.

Now, heartache is ringing in the halls of Woodrow Wilson High School in Raleigh County as loved ones mourn the death of their friend.

“It’s been pretty bad, really, I ain’t going to lie,” longtime friend Josiah “JoJo” Harriston said. “It’s been a hard week for me. Especially every time I go into class. I had been just missing him in there with me, talking, cracking jokes, everything.”

Dwayne or Wayne as many of his friends called him, was well known in the region. Harriston met Wayne in the third grade. They played basketball together. He and many who knew Dwayne say he was a genial and good-natured person.

“Nobody could really get mad at him,” Harriston said. “It’s like, for him to die that way. It’s, it’s ridiculous to me.”

Beckley police confirmed that Richardson died in an accidental shooting. On late Wednesday afternoon they arrested Jeriamyah Jacob Fortner of Beckley. He’s accused of recklessly handling an AR-15 rifle and accidentally shooting Richardson. Fortner is charged with voluntary manslaughter and four counts of wanton endangerment.

“Nobody should die that way and Dwayne would be the last person I’d ever think would die that way,” Harriston said.

Josiah “Jojo” (left), Tauvea Davis, the late Dwayne Richardson Jr. and Keandre Sarver (right) in Beckley, WV.

Harriston said he was watching a movie when he heard the tragic news from his friend Rashad.

“Rashad called me and said, he was crying and stuff and was like Dwayne had got shot, and I was like, I was like, confused,” Harriston told West Virginia Public Broadcasting. “Right when he told me and I started believing that he got shot, I just broke down in tears. That was just off him getting shot.”

According to Lt. David Allard, Beckley police were responding to the report of a shooting when they were flagged down by a vehicle whose occupants were transporting Richardson to the hospital.

“They were friends, acquaintances that he had been with earlier in the day,” Allard said. “We have been speaking with them. We have went to the area where this has reported to have occurred.”

Allard, chief of detectives at the Beckley Police Department, says he also knew Richardson, but not because of his police work. Richardson was a talented athlete and star basketball player. Allard had watched him play in games over the years.

“So there’s the human element there that we don’t always have a connection with the victims,” Allard said. “Anytime you have a loss of life, it’s tragic. When you have someone at this age in your life, three weeks from graduation and state tournament this week in Charleston, it’s extremely tough to deal with and you can’t really set that aside.”

Woodrow Wilson sophomore Ella Rose met Richardson in middle school.

“He can make anyone laugh, it didn’t matter what mood they were in, he would say something, and the whole room would crack up,” Rose said. “Like it was, it was just something different. And I think everybody’s noticed that and everyone’s saying that. But that’s just really how it was.”

She and Harriston say people couldn’t help but like Richardson for his positive personality.

“He had a great smile. He was so calm, you know? Anybody could get along with him. Really. He’s just just a great person in general,” she added.

Richardson’s former basketball coach Roy Blankenship says the skilled athlete made good grades, got along well with his teachers and coaches, and had a bright future ahead of him.

“Wayne was just one of those kids I told him if you keep working the way you’re working, keep your grades up, you’ll get a scholarship to play ball,” Blankenship said. “I knew he would get one and be able to go to college.”

As the community mourns and reflects on Richardson’s life, one of his friends, Tauvea Davis, is trying to cope with his death by honoring him with a song. He wrote it the day he found out Richardson didn’t make it.

In the coming weeks, as those close to Richardson look for ways to deal with his sudden, violent death, Rose hopes the nightmare of losing a friend won’t be worsened by divisions or conflict within the community.

“We really all just have to stay together because that’s all we really can do,” Rose said. “It’s going to do no one good at Woodrow to separate and to start all this drama.”

Former Coach Remembers Slain Beckley Basketball Player As An ‘Amazing Kid,’ Strong Student-Athlete

Friends and family of 18-year-old Dwayne Richardson Jr. held a vigil Wednesday afternoon in Beckley. Richardson was shot and killed on Sunday evening, according to Beckley Police. The ceremony came just one day before the Flying Eagles play in the West Virginia state high school basketball tournament.

Richardson was a junior at the school and a key player on the team. This week, fellow teammates, family, friends and an entire community are mourning his death. Roy Blankenship is a teacher at Beckley-Stratton Middle School. He was Richardson’s basketball coach in 8th grade.

Dwayne Richardson Jr., number 2, played for Beckley-Stratton Middle school on the basketball team. The team was coached by Roy Blankenship.

“One of the neat things, and a lot of the other teachers have just been talking about, what an amazing kid he was and what a joy it was to have in class,” Blankenship said. “He loved to make people laugh. He was a very funny kid, and had really good grades. He was as good of a student as he was an athlete. Just a warm personality.”

Blankenship said it was shocking to hear that he died from a gunshot wound.

The Beckley shooting marks the second such tragedy in the Mountain State in the past month. Kelvin “KJ” Taylor, 18, and a beloved high school football player at Charleston’s Capitol High School, was shot and killed April 7 as he stood on the street on the city’s West Side.

Now another community is trying to understand the loss of a promising teenager to gun violence.

“It truly broke my heart,” Blankenship said of Richardson’s death. “I mean, it brought me to tears.”

Wilson goes into the state tournament ranked 8th after a scrappy season. Morgantown High School is ranked first.

“We had a lot of hopes with this team. They made an amazing turnaround. The season had gotten off to kind of a rocky start. They weren’t doing very well and they’ve won several of their last games,” Blankenship said. “It’s gonna be very hard to go up there and watch (the game) without him. I can’t imagine what the players are going through. I’m sure they all want to win and do well for him, for his memory.”

The loss has also sent heartache through the entire community.

“Beckley is basketball and it’s very devastating. I’m going up to the game tomorrow and I can’t even imagine not watching him play,” Blankenship said. “He was one of the most exciting basketball players I’ve seen. He was a slasher, he just had a way of getting to the rim with the ball. He was a really good passer, really was a big lift for the team when he got in the game. All the boys, I’ve spoken with a few of them, are just devastated. They can’t believe that, you know, he was a rock … and just a great kid.”

Wilson will play at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the Charleston Coliseum.

Late Wednesday afternoon, Beckley Police announced the arrest of Jeriamyah Jacob Fortner of Beckley. According to a news release, police said Fortner, 20, was recklessly handling an AR-15 rifle and accidently shot Richardson. Fortner was charged with voluntary manslaughter and four counts of wanton endangerment.

WVPB will have more memorial stories about Dwayne Richardson Jr. in the coming days.

Reach reporter Jessica Lilly at jlilly@wvpublic.org