Justin Charles Chafin, a 37-year-old White/Caucasian male from Ranger, West Virginia, died on December 20, 2022, after a violent domestic dispute inside a home in the Ranger area of Lincoln County. The incident was reported Tuesday evening along McClellan Highway, where first responders and Lincoln County deputies arrived to find two men dead in what authorities described as an apparent murder-suicide. Chafin was identified as the victim of the shooting, and the other man was identified by authorities as his stepson, Michael Charles Bennett.
According to reports citing the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, Chafin and Bennett had been involved in an altercation that escalated sharply. Deputies said the confrontation became very violent before Bennett obtained an AR-15 and shot Chafin multiple times. After shooting his stepfather, Bennett turned the gun on himself.
Both Chafin and Bennett were pronounced dead at the scene, leaving investigators to piece together a sudden family tragedy that unfolded inside the home.
Chafin’s wife, who was also Bennett’s mother, was reportedly at the residence when the shootings occurred. Investigators said she was the one who called 911 after the violence erupted. The presence of a close family member at the home underscored the domestic nature of the case, and early reporting described the incident as a dispute between a father and stepson that ended in murder-suicide.
No arrests were made because the identified shooter, Michael Charles Bennett, died by suicide immediately after the shooting. There were no public reports of any additional suspects, and the case did not proceed to criminal charges, trial, or conviction because the accused person was deceased at the scene. Authorities continued to describe the matter as an investigation into a murder-suicide, with Bennett identified as the person who shot Chafin before killing himself.
Away from the final moments of his life, Chafin was remembered by loved ones as a husband, son, brother, and longtime member of his community. His obituary said he loved fishing, hunting, and the animals he kept at home, and that he had served for 17 years as a volunteer firefighter with the Guyan River Volunteer Fire Department. He also worked at Blenko Glass after graduating high school and rose to the position of master finisher. His death left family, friends, coworkers, fellow firefighters, and neighbors mourning a man whose life had been rooted in work, service, and community before it ended in a sudden act of family violence.
