James Russell Keyser Parker, a 19-year-old male from Cameron, West Virginia, died on December 26, 2014, after a shooting inside a residence at 24 North Avenue in Cameron. Parker had been born in Morgantown and graduated from Cameron High School in 2013. He worked as a laborer with Laborers Local 1149 and served with the Cameron Fire Department. Outside of work and the fire department, he was remembered as an avid hunter and fisherman who enjoyed spending time with friends.
The shooting occurred on the Friday afternoon immediately after Christmas. Cameron Police Chief Michael Younger said investigators determined that a 14-year-old juvenile was handling a firearm and believed that the weapon was unloaded. According to the police account, the teenager pointed the gun at Parker and pulled the trigger. The firearm discharged, striking Parker in the forehead. Parker was pronounced dead later that evening.
Police described the circumstances uncovered during their initial investigation as apparently accidental rather than an intentional attack.
The juvenile suspected of firing the fatal shot was not publicly identified because of his age. After the shooting, authorities said the teenager was taken to Ohio Valley Medical Center for treatment of minor injuries and for evaluation. Police continued investigating how the firearm and ammunition came to be involved and initially made no immediate decision about criminal charges. Chief Younger said the information gathered by investigators indicated that the teenager had believed the gun was empty when he pointed it at Parker and fired.
The investigation ultimately did result in formal juvenile proceedings. In January 2015, the Cameron Police Department and the prosecutor's office filed a juvenile petition against the 14-year-old. The petition alleged involuntary manslaughter and wanton endangerment involving a firearm in connection with Parker's death. Authorities continued to withhold the teenager's name because the case was being handled through the juvenile justice system.
Even after the charges were filed, investigators said their work was continuing, including efforts to establish additional information concerning the gun and ammunition. The publicly available contemporary reporting located on the case does not identify a later public trial, adjudication, sentence, or conviction arising from the juvenile petition. Because juvenile proceedings and records are generally confidential, the absence of a publicly reported disposition does not establish that the case ended without further court action. The last clearly documented development in contemporary news coverage was the filing of the involuntary manslaughter and wanton-endangerment allegations against the unidentified teenager.
