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ELKINS – One man is dead of an apparent gunshot wound to the head and another is in police custody after a shooting incident Tuesday morning in downtown Elkins.
Social media posts identified the victim, whose body was discovered at 4 a.m. near the Town Square and Elkins Depot Welcome Center, as Donovan Nicholson, 22, of Belington. Elkins Police Chief C.D. Cross declined to confirm the identity of the victim.
“I’m not going to do that, no,” Cross said. “I don’t like to do that because he has family. I would leave that up to the family.”
The alleged shooter, identified as Derrick W. Adamson, was apprehended by West Virginia State Police at approximately noon Tuesday in Webster County on one felony count of grand larceny, stemming from the theft of a vehicle from Go-Mart on Railroad Avenue in Elkins prior to the alleged homicide. Cross told The Inter-Mountain additional charges are pending.
“The murder warrants will be coming here real soon, by the end of the day,” Cross explained Tuesday afternoon. “Within the next couple hours, murder charges will be coming because he did confess. They apprehended him and he gave a full confession to the homicide. We had to link him to the crime, and when he gave the confession, it linked him to it.”
Cross confirmed Nicholson died of a gunshot wound to the head, but said police have not determined a motive for the killing.
While the motive remains a mystery, police are alleging Adamson is connected to several incidents that occurred late Monday night into early Tuesday. After a report of gunshots being fired, law enforcement officials responded to a possible wanton endangerment call shortly before midnight Monday at the Mountaineer Mart on Davis Avenue. There, they found Adamson, who fit witness descriptions. Adamson was searched, and, while no gun was found, police did find him to be in possession of .25 caliber handgun rounds. However, no arrest was made.
Roughly 90 minutes later, police responded to Go-Mart on Railroad Avenue after receiving a report of a stolen gold Ford 500. Reports indicate Adamson was identified on surveillance footage as the individual who took the vehicle. Minutes later, a BOLO (be on lookout for) alert was issued for the vehicle.
Later, during a foot patrol, Patrolman G.L. Brown of the Elkins Police Department discovered Nicholson’s body at 4 a.m. while investigating an area where Adamson had been seen walking earlier. At the depot homicide site, Brown found a .25 ACP cartridge in the same vicinity as Nicholson’s body. This then prompted police to issue an alert for Adamson.
“He (Brown) told me that earlier in the night, he had seen someone matching the clothing description Adamson had on walking in the area, and he just got out on foot and found the body,” Cross said. “We had no idea there was a body at that point.”
By noon Tuesday, Adamson was arrested in Webster County, where police said they believe he was headed to his daughter’s residence. Adamson was found wearing a bulletproof vest with rifle plates and with a handgun matching the bullet cartridges at the crime scene.
Within days of Tuesday’s shooting, an Elkins business was broken into and items, including bulletproof vests, were reported stolen. It is unknown if the crimes are connected.
“We can’t confirm at this time whether or not the (bulletproof) vest he was wearing was related to the B and E (breaking and entering) that we had earlier in the week but when Adamson was arrested, yes, he was wearing one (a bulletproof vest),” Cross said.
Details still were vague late Tuesday night.
“We are trying to find any possible motives for this. That’s the main thing,” Cross said. “Any possible motives and anybody else who may have information on why somebody was killed. As far as we can tell, they (Adamson and Nicholson) had no connection. We had no witnesses over there (at the depot). One subject is dead, and we only had the one subject’s word.”
Cross said it took a team to get the case to this point.
“I thank the West Virginia State Police and the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office for all their help. The state police have a lot more arms than we do and stayed on top of it with us. They assisted us,” Cross said. “We checked three or four residences and spoke with a lot of people, and the state police assisted me and Corp. (R.W.) Belt with doing that. They were more than willing to help and used all their resources to help investigate this crime. They were real cooperative and the sheriff’s department was, too.”
The medical examiner and Randolph County EMS also assisted in Tuesday’s investigation.
In a statement posted Tuesday on Facebook, Elkins Mayor Van Broughton thanked all area law enforcement officials for their teamwork.
“I would like to express my gratitude for the hard work of the Elkins Police Department since last night’s terrible situation. Hard work and teamwork led to a fast arrest. Thanks also to the West Virginia State Police and the Randolph County Sheriff’s Department. All of these fine folks may wear different uniforms, but when needed, they are all on the same team,” Broughton wrote.
“The Inter-Mountain did a great job getting the information out and keeping everyone updated. I also greatly appreciate the many followers of this page who shared our posts so widely. It was a sad day, but I’m just glad the community came together. Please keep the victim’s family in your thoughts and prayers,” he concluded.
Anyone with information about the shooting and other events leading up to it is urged to contact the EPD at 304-636-0678.