LEWIS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA – A man was fatally shot in self-defense by a woman while he was assaulting and threatening to kill her, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.
A Sunday evening press release by the Sheriff’s Office said officers from their department and the West Virginia State Police responded to a reported shooting in the 5900 block of Copley Road around 1 a.m. on Saturday morning. Upon arrival, they found a man with a single gunshot wound lying on the ground outside the residence.
A woman inside the residence told police that she had been attacked by the man. She stated that he struck her in the back of the head and kicked her, then began choking her while saying that he was going to kill her. According to her account, she was able to draw a small handgun from her pocket and used it to shoot him once in the chest. He released his hands from her neck and fell to the ground.
Officials say that the woman also called 911 and attempted to render aid to the man following the shooting. Paramedics with Lewis County EMS arrived and pronounced the man dead at the scene. He was later identified as 47-year-old John Frame. The Sheriff’s Office said the incident remains under investigation.
West Virginia law has a “Stand Your Ground” clause that allows a person to use lethal force to defend themselves. It reads, in part, “A person who is not engaged in an unlawful activity and who is attacked in any other place where he or she has a right to be has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.”
