FAYETTEVILLE, W.Va. — An off-duty security guard who shot and killed a man at a Fayette County idled coal mining site last fall no longer faces a murder charge.
Fayette County Circuit Judge Paul Blake dismissed the charge Wednesday against Gary Gover, 55, of Hilltop, following a motion from Fayette County Prosecutor Larry Harrah.
Harrah tells MetroNews recent results from evidence testing back up Gover’s claim that he shot Johnny Johnston Jr., 31, of Kincaid, Sept. 28, 2016, after Johnston attacked him. Testing proved blood found on a rock was Gover’s blood, Harrah said.
“That evidence was consistent with the statement that he gave that the victim in this case, Mr. Johnston, had hit him in the head with a rock after he was questioning him about being inside a generator box allegedly stealing copper wire,” Harrah said.
The evidence hadn’t been tested at the time Gover was indicted on the murder charge, Harrah said.
A man with Johnston at the mining site, Russell Walker, 31, also of Kincaid, died in a automobile crash, also hurting the case, Harrah said.
“I have to go where the evidence takes me. Sometimes you have to make really tough decisions in this job and that was one of the toughest ones I’ve had to make,” Harrah said.
Gover was a security guard employed at Frasier Creek mines near Oak Hill. He was off-duty at the time of the shooting. He was on the property collecting rocks, Harrah said.
Gover was cooperative throughout the investigation, Harrah said.