A 19-year-old, Christian Archen Whalen, was tragically shot and killed while trying to break up a fight during a bonfire party in the Virginia woods. The incident occurred just after midnight on Sunday in a wooded area of Spotsylvania County, about 55 miles from Richmond, according to the Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office.
Whalen was attending the party with a large group when a fight broke out among other partygoers. As he attempted to intervene, Whalen was shot in the lower extremity. The sheriff’s office confirmed that deputies responded to the scene around 1 a.m. after receiving reports of a shooting. Upon arrival, they found Whalen critically injured.
“Deputies immediately began to render life-saving measures. A deputy on scene loaded him into his cruiser and transported him to a rescue squad,” the sheriff’s office reported. Despite their efforts, Whalen was rushed to a local hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.
After interviewing witnesses, detectives identified Kenneth Watson, 18, as the person who fired the fatal shot. Watson has been charged with homicide and the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. He is currently being held without bond at the Rappahannock Regional Jail while the investigation continues.
Whalen’s girlfriend, Lacy Milling, 16, revealed to NBC 4 that she had warned him not to attend the party, but he decided to go anyway. Milling, who had been in a relationship with Whalen for over a year, grew increasingly worried when he stopped responding to her texts. Her fears were confirmed when she saw social media posts asking for prayers for Whalen.
“I go on Snapchat, and I see people posting on their story ‘pray for Christian,’” she told the outlet. “Just, it was everywhere.”
Later that evening, Milling received a heartbreaking text from Whalen’s father that simply read, “Christian died.” Reflecting on the moment, Milling said, “Literally, those two words.”
Milling described Whalen as “the kindest person” who would help anyone, even his enemies. “He would help anybody, like, even it came down to his worst enemy,” she said, adding that he did “not like arguing at all.”
Now, the young woman, who had dreams of starting a family with Whalen, feels that the alleged killer has stolen their future together. “He took what I wanted the most, which was almost a family to grow up with,” she shared tearfully. “I almost had what I wanted, but he took it from me.”
Milling set up a crowdfunding page to help support Whalen’s family with funeral expenses. She shared the last message she received from Whalen, where he apologized for not always being “the best person” but expressed his love for her. “‘I’m sorry that I’m not the best person, but I love you,’” she recounted his final words before he was killed.
Milling also described Whalen as a “gentle, genuine, loyal, and caring person” who would always tell her “I love you & thank you before he left to go anywhere because he always said, ‘the next 30 minutes isn’t promised.’”
In her post, Milling expressed anger and grief, writing, “His poor family now has to live on without their precious son because of these selfish people that don’t deserve to carry guns.”
