John Jefferson
Left inset: Kenneth Watson (Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office). Right inset: Christian Whalen (GoFundMe). Main: Lacy Milling speaks on the news about her boyfriend Christian’s death (WRC-TV).
A 19-year-old was shot and killed over the weekend in Fredericksburg, Virginia, while trying to break up a fight at a bonfire party, leaving his 16-year-old girlfriend and the victim’s father devastated, and leading to the arrest of an 18-year-old that investigators have accused of being the triggerman.
The Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office said it first learned of the shooting after midnight on Sunday down near the Hunting Run reservoir, where a “large group” of teenagers were attending a bonfire party and “trespassing on property owned” by the county “when a fight broke out.”
Authorities said that by the time they arrived to Spotswood Furnace Road, 19-year-old Christian Archen Whalen had already been shot “in the lower extremity” while attempting to “break the fight up.” Whalen died at the hospital thereafter.
“Deputies immediately began to render life-saving measures. A deputy on scene loaded him into his cruiser and transported him to a rescue squad. Christian was transported to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries,” the sheriff’s office said.
Citing witness accounts from the scene, investigators said, the shooting suspect was identified as 18-year-old Kenneth Watson. It’s unclear if he and the victim knew one another and unclear what exactly led to the fight and gunfire, but Watson was arrested and booked into the Rappahannock Regional Jail without bond on homicide and gun charges.
“Detectives are relying on witnesses who may have been at the party that left before law enforcement’s arrival,” authorities said, offering “sincere condolences” to the victim’s friends and family. “Anyone with information is asked to contact the Spotsylvania Sheriff’s Office.”
Adding to the tragedy, Whalen’s girlfriend Lacy Milling said in an interview with Washington, D.C.-area, local affiliate WRC-TV that she warned Christian not to go to the bonfire party that night.
She said she first suspected something was wrong when he didn’t respond to her texts, but seeing people posting “pray for Christian” online and “everywhere” on Snapchat only heightened those worries.
Then, Milling said, Whalen’s father sent her a two-word message she’ll never forget.
“I see a notification from his dad saying, ‘Christian died,”” Milling told WRC-TV. “Literally, those two words.”
A GoFundMe campaign started under Milling’s name identified Whalen as her fiancé and said that he was “everybody’s friend who he ever encountered and was always one call away for help,” and yet she and his family “now has to live on without their precious son because of these selfish people that don’t deserve to carry guns.”
“He would have helped his worst enemy if it came down to it. He was the most gentle, genuine, loyal, and caring person somebody could ever meet. He would always say his I love you’s & thank you’s before he left to go anywhere because he always said, ‘the next 30 minutes isn’t promised,’” a post on the GoFundMe said. “The last words I received from him were, ‘I’m sorry that I’m not the best person, but I love you.’”
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