Poca man in New Year’s Eve shootout dies

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A man who was charged with attempted murder after exchanging gunfire with police on New Year’s Eve in Kanawha County has died.

Michael Vincent Davis, 49, of Poca, died late Wednesday night at a Charleston hospital, according to the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department.

At about 11:30 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, deputies responded to a subdivision in Cross Lanes, West Gate located on Dawn Street, after a report of a suspicious person who may have pointed a gun at another person.

Davis first spoke with deputies before walking away and then shooting at the deputies who tried to approach him again, according to information from Kanawha County Sheriff Mike Rutherford.

The alleged weapon, a handgun, was fired multiple times before gunfire from the deputies struck Davis.

Davis was named in a warrant for two counts of attempted murder and two counts of wanton endangerment but he never made it out of the hospital.