Billy Eugene Wooten III, a 25-year-old White/Caucasian man from Fairmont, West Virginia, was fatally shot on the morning of August 16, 2026. Fairmont police were called at approximately 8 a.m. to a residence on McKinney Street, where Wooten had been shot in the backyard. Witnesses told investigators that they saw a man running from the area after the shooting and also saw a silver vehicle speeding away.
What led to the violence has not been publicly explained, and authorities have not announced a motive or described what, if any, interaction occurred between Wooten and the alleged shooter immediately before the gunfire.
The investigation quickly moved beyond the immediate crime scene. While Fairmont officers were interviewing witnesses and gathering evidence, authorities received information from neighboring Harrison County that a silver vehicle had crashed on Interstate 79. The vehicle drew investigators' attention because of its similarity to the car witnesses reported leaving the area of the McKinney Street shooting. A 23-year-old woman who had been driving the vehicle and passenger Brandon Vaughn, 34, of Detroit, Michigan, were taken into custody following the crash. Both initially faced drug-related charges. Fairmont investigators traveled to Harrison County as they continued trying to determine whether the occupants of the crashed vehicle were connected to Wooten's death.
After investigators analyzed evidence and conducted interviews, police accused Vaughn of shooting Wooten and charged him with murder. Vaughn was subsequently held at the North Central Regional Jail, with contemporary reports stating that no bond had been set. The woman driving the vehicle was reported as facing drug charges, but available reports do not indicate that she was charged in connection with Wooten's killing. Fairmont Police Chief Steve Shine credited investigators with rapidly gathering and connecting information in the case and specifically acknowledged assistance from the West Virginia State Police, which provided operational support during the investigation.
Additional reporting indicated that Vaughn was on parole in Michigan when he was arrested in West Virginia. Records reviewed by reporters showed that he had been released from prison in December 2023 and remained under Michigan supervision. His prior criminal record included firearm-related convictions in Wayne County, Michigan, stemming from a 2018 case in which he was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm, carrying a concealed weapon and felony firearm. Those earlier convictions are separate from the allegations surrounding Wooten's death and do not establish Vaughn's guilt in the Fairmont case. As of August 26, 2026, available reporting described Vaughn as charged with murder and the investigation as ongoing; no trial or conviction in Wooten's death had been reported.
Beyond the circumstances of his death, Wooten was remembered as a young man whose life was closely connected to Fairmont. Born Billy Eugene Wooten III on November 10, 2000, in Cleveland, Ohio, he later attended Fairmont Senior High School and earned his diploma there. His family remembered him for a personality that naturally drew people toward him. Growing up, he enjoyed riding bicycles, fishing, hunting and watching wrestling, while later interests included music and demolition derbies. Above all, his obituary emphasized the time he spent with relatives and friends and the many family members left to preserve his memory.
Wooten's sudden death left his family mourning a life that ended far too early while investigators worked to establish exactly what happened in the backyard on McKinney Street. His family planned for cremation in accordance with his wishes, with a Celebration of Life to be held later. Police continued asking anyone with additional information about the shooting to contact the lead investigator. Vaughn remains accused, and the murder charge against him is an allegation that must be proven in court; the publicly available information through August 26, 2026, does not indicate that the case has yet reached trial or resulted in a conviction.
