Knight

PARKERSBURG – A Parkersburg man was indicted for murder and related charges on Friday by the Wood County Grand Jury.

Butch Wayne Knight, 19, currently in the North Central Regional Jail, was accused of the Dec. 8 shooting of Bradi Florence in an incident on Belmont Road in South Parkersburg.

The grand jury, which also indicted more than 80 people on Friday, indicted Knight for murder in the death of Florence, two counts of attempted murder and eight counts of wanton endangerment with a firearm.

Parkersburg Police in December said the incident happened around Southwood Park near a residential area and Gihon Elementary School around the time when school was to be released for the day.

Three people were in a parked car that police said Knight fired a weapon into eight times, striking Florence in the back of the head and wounding another man, Devon Forshey, 18 at the time. A third man in the car was not injured, police said.

Florence, 18, died shortly after. He was a 2025 graduate of Parkersburg South High School.

Knight is being held without bond.

Prosecutors at a bond hearing said Knight went to the area knowing the victim would be there. According to witnesses and surveillance footage, Knight was dropped off from a vehicle about a block away and walked to where the victims’ vehicle was parked.

He approached the parked vehicle from behind, had a 10-second conversation then fired into the car, prosecutors said. Knight then ran back to the vehicle he had gotten out of and fled the area, prosecutors said.

Knight was caught about 10 minutes later on Neal Street at a location he was known to frequent and where the alleged weapon was hidden in a residence, prosecutors said.