John Michael Middleton, a 49-year-old White male from Mount Carbon, West Virginia, was killed on the morning of August 18, 2025, during a shooting in the Adena Village area of Fayette County. Middleton was outside beneath or near a neighboring carport, talking with three other people, when gunfire erupted at approximately 10:30 a.m. Authorities later identified the suspected shooter as Michael Todd Hall, 53, who also lived in Mount Carbon. Investigators said Middleton was struck by a shotgun blast fired toward the group from a window. The three people who were with Middleton were also hit by shotgun pellets, but their injuries were described as minor and non-life-threatening.
The sudden gunfire triggered a major law-enforcement response and initially created uncertainty about whether an armed suspect remained at large.
Fayette County sheriff’s deputies responded along with West Virginia State Police troopers, Montgomery Police Department officers and personnel from the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources. A shelter-in-place advisory was issued for residents in the Mount Carbon and Adena Village areas while officers worked to secure the scene and determine the location of the gunman. After officers established that there was no longer an active threat, the shelter-in-place order was lifted.
Investigators found Middleton dead outside in the carport area. Hall, the man authorities identified as the suspected shooter, was located dead inside his residence from what investigators described as an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Fayette County Sheriff Jess McMullen said investigators believed a shotgun had been used in the attack on Middleton and the other people near him, while Hall appeared to have used a different weapon, described as a high-powered rifle, to take his own life shortly afterward. The sequence left two people dead at the scene and three others wounded.
As detectives reconstructed what happened, authorities described the shooting as an isolated incident and said there may have been one specific intended target. The three surviving people struck by shotgun pellets were regarded as bystanders and were not believed to have been deliberately targeted. Publicly released information did not conclusively establish whether Middleton was the person Hall specifically intended to shoot, although Middleton was the only person in the group who was killed. Investigators also did not publicly identify a motive or explain what, if anything, had occurred between Hall and Middleton before the shooting. The Fayette County Sheriff’s Office said its detective bureau continued investigating the circumstances and appealed to anyone with information about the incident or the people involved to come forward.
Because Hall was found dead from the apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound before officers could take him into custody, there was no arrest of the identified suspect in Middleton’s killing. No criminal charges, prosecution, trial or conviction followed against Hall. Public reporting on the case identified no second shooter or additional suspect, and no subsequent publicly reported arrest has emerged in connection with Middleton’s death. The available accounts continued to describe Hall as the sole suspected shooter and the motive as unclear.
Away from the circumstances of his death, Middleton was known as John Michael “Otter” Middleton. He was born October 10, 1975, and owned Body Works Collision Center. His obituary described him as highly skilled in automotive work, particularly mechanics, collision repair, body work and paint matching. He was survived by his wife, Tanya Middleton; his daughter, Audrey Nichole Middleton; and his parents, Linda Middleton and Marlin George Middleton. His son, Preston Michael Middleton, had died before him. A visitation and memorial service for Middleton were held at O’Dell Funeral Home in Montgomery on August 27, 2025, nine days after the shooting that ended his life.
