Andrew Reaser was an 18-year-old White/Caucasian male whose death on February 6, 2015, unfolded during a domestic disturbance at an apartment complex on Trovato Street near West Virginia Route 58 in Anmoore. At about 2 p.m., a woman living in the apartment contacted the Harrison-Taylor 911 Center while she and her boyfriend were involved in a verbal argument. Anmoore Police Chief Don Quinn was dispatched to the residence to investigate the domestic-related call. Authorities later said they were unaware of any previous domestic-violence incidents at the home.
When Quinn reached the apartment, he knocked on the door and identified himself as a police officer. According to the West Virginia State Police account of the incident, the door opened slightly before a man inside quickly closed it again. Moments later, investigators believed Reaser used a rifle to shoot himself in the head. The bullet continued through the apartment wall and struck Quinn in the elbow outside.
Because Quinn believed someone inside the apartment was deliberately firing at him, he responded by firing his own weapon through the wall.
The situation initially had the appearance of an armed confrontation involving an officer, but the subsequent State Police investigation concluded that the shot that killed Reaser was self-inflicted. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Quinn survived his wound and was taken to United Hospital Center in Bridgeport, where he was treated and released later that afternoon. The woman who had called police was also located during the incident and was reported not to have suffered serious injuries. Multiple law-enforcement agencies responded as investigators worked to reconstruct the sequence of gunfire and determine how the police chief had been wounded.
Police initially withheld the deceased teenager's identity while awaiting confirmation from the Medical Examiner's Office and ensuring his family had been notified. The investigation ultimately did not identify another person as responsible for his fatal wound. Although Quinn discharged his firearm after being struck, the investigative account attributed Reaser's death to the self-inflicted rifle wound that occurred before the chief returned fire. As a result, the available reporting does not indicate that anyone was arrested or charged with causing Reaser's death, and there was no criminal prosecution, trial, or conviction arising from his death. The event was treated as a tragic domestic-disturbance response in which Reaser died by suicide and an responding police chief was unintentionally wounded by the same gunshot.
