Jason Lee Ellis, a 38-year-old White / Caucasian male from Huntington, West Virginia, died on November 13, 2021, after a Saturday afternoon shooting in the 800 block of Washington Avenue. Police said the call came in around 4:30 p.m., and when Huntington officers arrived, they found Ellis on the front porch of a residence. He was still alive, but he had suffered a life-threatening gunshot wound to the torso.
Officers and emergency responders tried to save him, and he was taken by ambulance to Cabell Huntington Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
In the first hours after the shooting, the case was treated as a homicide investigation with no immediate arrests. Huntington police released Ellis’s name after his death and said detectives were working to identify the people involved. What began as a report of a person shot on Washington Avenue quickly became a murder investigation, leaving investigators to piece together what had happened on that porch and who had pulled the trigger.
More than a year later, court records described a clearer and more troubling account of the moments before Ellis was shot. Investigators said Ellis’s girlfriend told police that before the shooting, Ellis had taken about seven ounces of marijuana from a female drug dealer known to them as “A.J.” According to the complaint, once “A.J.” learned the marijuana was missing, she confronted Ellis and his girlfriend while armed with a pistol. The girlfriend alleged that “A.J.” placed the gun to both of their heads and threatened to shoot them if the marijuana was not returned.
The girlfriend was able to get away, but Ellis was left behind. A short time later, a neighbor found him shot on the porch. Police said their investigation identified “A.J.” as Autumn Faith Hammond of Southfield, Michigan. According to court records reported in the case, investigators also spoke with Hammond’s twin brother, who allegedly said he talked to her about 30 minutes after the shooting and that she told him she shot Ellis because she believed he had stolen the marijuana.
Autumn Faith Hammond was later charged in connection with Ellis’s death. She was accused of murder, use or presentment of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and wanton endangerment. In January 2023, Hammond pleaded not guilty to the charges in Cabell County court and was reported to be held at Western Regional Jail. Publicly available reports found for the case describe the arrest, charges, and not-guilty plea, but they did not show a final conviction or sentencing outcome.
