Austin Dylan Porter, a 29-year-old White male from Branchland, West Virginia, died on July 15, 2023, after a family argument turned into a fatal shooting in Lincoln County. The violence unfolded around 1:30 p.m. inside a mobile home at Davidson Trailer Court in the Branchland area, near West Hamlin. What was first reported as an emergency call from a trailer park quickly became a homicide investigation when responding authorities found Porter dead from a gunshot wound.
According to online reports citing West Virginia State Police, the shooting followed a verbal altercation between Austin and his uncle, Hubert Porter, who was described as being from Barboursville. Investigators said the confrontation escalated inside the mobile home, and Austin was shot during the dispute. The reports did not describe a broader public threat or multiple attackers; the suspect identified by police was Austin’s uncle.
After the shooting, authorities began searching for Hubert Porter.
For several hours, police worked to locate him while the investigation continued around the trailer court. Later that same day, troopers took Hubert Porter into custody. News reports stated that he was arrested on the evening of July 15, 2023, and charged with murder in connection with Austin’s death. Jail booking information later listed the charge as first-degree murder.
Austin’s obituary identified him as Austin Dylan Porter of Branchland and said he was born on February 20, 1994. It remembered him through the family he left behind, including his mother, his son, his lifetime companion, and other loved ones. Funeral services were arranged through McGhee-Handley Funeral Home in West Hamlin, with burial to follow in Parsons Family Cemetery in Midkiff.
The available online reporting shows that the case was treated as a homicide with a named suspect arrested quickly after the shooting. Hubert Porter was the only suspect publicly identified in the sources reviewed, and he was reported to have been charged with murder. I did not find reliable online reporting showing a later trial outcome, plea, conviction, acquittal, or sentencing, so the publicly available details center on the fatal family dispute, the same-day arrest, and the murder charge filed after Austin Porter’s death.
