Austin Lee Lamb, a 28-year-old White/Caucasian male from Parkersburg, West Virginia, died in the early morning hours of February 28, 2026, after being shot multiple times inside a residence in the 1000 block of 40th Street. Parkersburg police were dispatched at approximately 12:10 a.m. and found Lamb on a couch suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.
Officers immediately began rendering aid, and Parkersburg firefighters and emergency medical personnel continued lifesaving efforts after arriving, but Lamb was pronounced dead at the residence. Police later publicly identified him as the victim. His obituary states that he was born September 17, 1997, in Parkersburg, was a member of IUPAT District Council 53 for seven years, and was remembered by his family as a devoted father who valued spending time with relatives and friends.
Investigators said the events leading to the shooting began during an evening spent with friends. According to the criminal complaint and subsequent court reporting, Lamb, Claudia Lynn Torres of Clarksburg, and two other people had been together at a bar before an argument developed while the group was traveling back to the residence. Police said that after they arrived, Lamb went inside while Torres went to her truck. Prosecutors alleged that Torres retrieved a firearm, returned to the house and opened fire while Lamb was seated on the couch. One witness who was inside reported seeing Torres enter and fire multiple shots, while another witness outside reported seeing her leave the house and fire an additional round before departing. Wood County Prosecutor Pat Lefebure later told the court that surveillance footage corroborated significant portions of the witnesses' accounts, including Torres leaving the home, going to her vehicle and returning with a gun.
The shooting quickly led police to Torres as the identified suspect. Authorities said she left in a purple Dodge Ram, but while officers were still dealing with the scene, Wood County dispatchers learned that she was calling from the area of 33rd Street and Murdoch Avenue. Officers located her at a gas station on Murdoch Avenue, roughly a mile from the shooting scene, and took her into custody without incident at approximately 12:19 a.m., only minutes after the initial police response. According to the criminal complaint, Torres made an unsolicited statement while being transported to the Parkersburg Police Department in which she said she had retrieved a gun and shot Lamb three times. Authorities also said she told a 911 dispatcher that Lamb had attempted to grope her and that she shot him in response. That claim was reported as Torres' account of what preceded the shooting; it had not been established as a judicial finding in the coverage reviewed.
Torres was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. After being processed by Parkersburg police, she was transferred into custody and subsequently held at the North Central Regional Jail. During a March 4 bond hearing, her attorney sought home confinement at her mother's residence in Clarksburg and argued that she was not a flight risk. Judge Jason Wharton denied the request and ordered Torres held without bond while the first-degree murder charge proceeded. Reporting at the time indicated that a preliminary hearing was expected on March 10. The publicly indexed online coverage located through August 15, 2026, did not establish that Torres had been convicted, acquitted, sentenced, or that a completed trial had occurred, so the first-degree murder allegation should be regarded as a criminal charge rather than a finding of guilt.
