UPDATE: The West Virginia State Police has identified the suspect involved in an officer shooting as Herman King Myers Jr., 52 years old, of Kearneysville, WV.
MARTINSBURG, W.Va. (WDVM) — One suspect is dead and a State Trooper was shot after an hour-long standoff in Martinsburg on Friday according to West Virginia State Police.
Police said that troopers responded to a suspicious death in Hedgesville around 9:57 a.m. Officers responded to the 200 block of Clarmont Drive where they found 43-year-old Russel Payne lying on his back near his residence. Initial reports describe the victim appeared to have sustained “severe trauma” to his body and was pronounced deceased at the scene. Investigators are awaiting the autopsy report.
The investigation then took state troopers to a residence on the 100 block of Fairfax Street, where officers found the suspect hiding in the attic around 3:00 p.m. this afternoon.
The suspect, whose name has not yet been released due to the need to notify next of kin, fired a shot at a state trooper.
Police said that the trooper, Corporal Z. S. Conner was shot in the lower abdominal area but was saved due to the bulletproof vest that he was wearing. After being shot at, the troopers retreated back outside.
State troopers then established a perimeter with the assistance of the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Department. The suspect fired several more times out of the second-story window at law enforcement officers with what police believe to have been a handgun.
Officers then returned fire and were unsure of whether or not the suspect was hit. Police sent a drone up to survey the residence and saw the suspect was down. Police then confirmed that the suspect was dead.
Corporal Conner was transported to Berkeley Medical Center for a check-up and has since been released. Police say that he is in good condition. West Virginia State Police were aided by the Martinsburg Police Department, Berkeley County Sheriff’s Department, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, Eastern Panhandle Drug and Violent Crimes Task Force, Department of Natural Resources, Berkeley County Animal Control, Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
West Virginia State Police are continuing to investigate the suspicious death that led them to this incident.