State Police investigate shooting death in McDowell County

West Virginia State Police are investigating a shooting death in McDowell County. The case again puts troopers, forensic work and the possibility of criminal charges at the center of a death investigation in a county where serious violence has often drawn quick public attention.

McDowell County has seen similar cases move from a fatal scene into court filings and arrests. In January 2024, Franklin Alger II, 18, of Coalwood was arrested after the shooting death of his mother, Patricia Alger, 53, also of Coalwood. The incident was reported at 4:05 p.m. on a Saturday, and State Trooper K.S. Little found Patricia Alger with two gunshot wounds. EMS pronounced her dead at the scene.

A separate McDowell County shooting death in January 2017 led to murder charges against Kenneth Brown Jr., 33, of Havaco. He was charged with murder, wanton endangerment and being a felon in possession of a firearm after the shooting death of another man. In May 2024, another McDowell County case resulted in a murder charge, and the defendant was arraigned before Magistrate Mark Shelton with no bond set.

State Police have also handled fatal investigations in the county beyond shootings. In February 2025, troopers released information about three deaths tied to flooding after a silver Chevrolet Silverado drove into high water and washed into the Tug River near Coney Island in Welch. That case showed how often the agency’s work in McDowell County can touch both criminal investigations and other sudden deaths that affect families across the area.

For McDowell County, each new fatal case quickly becomes more than a single incident. It can affect neighborhoods in Welch, Coalwood, Havaco and nearby communities as investigators work through the evidence, determine whether charges are warranted and answer the questions that follow any violent death.