Stephen Alexander Lawrence, a 22-year-old White/Caucasian male from Huntington, West Virginia, died on March 26, 2014, after a shotgun discharged inside a residence on Latulle Avenue. The shooting was reported shortly before 9 p.m. in Huntington’s Highlawn neighborhood. Emergency personnel responded to the residence, but Lawrence had suffered a gunshot wound to the chest and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Investigators learned that Lawrence had been at the residence with two other people and that alcohol had been consumed during the gathering. Police said a shotgun belonging to Lawrence was being passed among those present. Investigators initially treated the shooting as possibly accidental rather than as a deliberate attack. A more detailed account attributed to Huntington police stated that Lawrence had brought the shotgun from his home on nearby Guyan Avenue and that witnesses believed the weapon was unloaded. According to that account, Lawrence was handling or manipulating the shotgun when it unexpectedly discharged, sending a shot into his chest.
The two other people who had been inside the residence were detained and questioned by investigators in the immediate aftermath. Early reporting described them as being in custody, but police did not publicly identify them as intentional shooting suspects at that stage. Huntington police continued interviewing witnesses and reconstructing how the shotgun had been handled before it fired. Lt. John Williams indicated that investigators also had questions concerning why Lawrence had the shotgun with him, although police declined at the time to elaborate on that part of the investigation. The available accounts consistently described the fatal discharge as unintentional.
The investigation did not simply end with the initial determination that the shooting appeared accidental. Huntington police said the evidence and circumstances surrounding Lawrence’s death would be presented to a Cabell County grand jury, allowing prosecutors and jurors to determine whether anyone’s conduct warranted criminal charges. Surviving online references connected with the case also point to a later Herald-Dispatch report titled “Huntington man sentenced in accidental shooting,” indicating that the legal aftermath eventually reached a sentencing proceeding. However, the underlying Herald-Dispatch article is no longer available through accessible current search results, and the surviving references do not provide enough reliable information to identify the defendant, specify the charge, or state the sentence without risking attributing details from another case.
Beyond the circumstances of the shooting, Lawrence’s obituary described the personal loss left behind. He was the fiancé of Jessie Renee Childers and the father of Joseph Dwayne Lawrence. He was also survived by his mother, Jacquie Michelle Lawrence, his sister Lea Jade Lawrence, his brother Randall O’rion Lawrence, and other relatives and friends. Funeral services were held on April 4, 2014, at Beard Mortuary, followed by burial at Spring Hill Cemetery.
