CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A Kanawha County man who shot and killed a woman outside a Sheetz convenience store last year will not go on trial for murder after pleading guilty to lesser charges.
Jacob Fields, 19, of Charleston, entered a guilty plea Monday to one charge of involuntary manslaughter and four charges of wanton endangerment involving a firearm in connection with the shooting death of Tiffany Adkins, 42, of Marmet, outside the Sheetz store in Kanawha City in May 2025. Fields admitted that despite not intending to shoot Adkins, his recklessness resulted in her death.
“I was being reckless and negligent with a firearm, resulting in the unintentional death and endangerment of innocent lives,” he said before Kanawha County Circuit Judge Maryclaire Akers.
Fields stated that he was cleaning his gun inside a parked car outside of the Sheetz store after purchasing several items inside. After removing the magazine and wiping the gun down, he believed the chamber to be empty.
“I had thought I unloaded the firearm. The magazine wasn’t in it. I got done with cleaning it, and I went to dry fire it, not really intentionally pointing it at anybody or anywhere specific,” he said.
Forensic testing confirmed that the magazine had been removed from the gun, according to Kanawha County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Madison Tuck. Despite this, there was still a bullet in the chamber when Fields pulled the trigger.
“I went to bring it up to the dashboard, and I went to dry fire it. I was listening for the click of the dry fire, and instead the gun goes off and strikes an innocent woman,” he said.
Fields initially told police that he had been cleaning the gun when it went off accidentally, but detectives believed after reviewing surveillance footage that he had intentionally aimed at Adkins before shooting. He maintained that the shooting was accidental and described his panic after seeing the bullet strike Adkins.
“I immediately jumped out of the car and started panicking. I didn’t really know what to do. This never happened before. As reckless as I’ve been with firearms, nothing bad’s ever happened, so I stayed on the scene. I tried to get help,” he said.
After providing a statement to the police on the night of the shooting, Fields turned himself in the following day and faced a first-degree murder charge prior to accepting the plea agreement. Prosecutors previously described the incident as a “thrill kill” and as recently as April 30 told Judge Akers that they were ready to go to trial.
The involuntary manslaughter charge carries a sentence of up to one year in the regional jail, while each count of wanton endangerment has a potential sentence of 1–5 years in prison. Fields will receive his sentence on July 13.