Teen Killed While Trying to Break up Fight, Girlfriend Learned About Death from Heartbreaking Text

Christian Archen Whalen, 19, was fatally shot at a bonfire in Virginia

A Virginia teenager became panicked when she began seeing social media posts praying for her boyfriend. Soon after, on Monday, Sept. 3, she received a heartbreaking text message from his father.

"I see a notification from his dad saying, ‘Christian died,’" Lacy Milling said, recalling the gutting moment in an interview with local NBC4 this week. "Literally, two words."

Her boyfriend, 19-year-old Christian Archen Whalen, was shot and killed while trying to break up a fight at a bonfire he attended late Sunday night, the Spotsylvania Sheriff’s Office said in a statement earlier this week.

The statement said Whalen “was shot in the lower extremity,” adding that deputies arrived on scene around 1 a.m. Monday and “immediately began to render life-saving measures.”

“A deputy on scene loaded him into his cruiser and transported him to a rescue squad,” the statement said. “Christian was transported to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.”

Milling told NBC4 she warned Whalen not to go to the bonfire initially, later getting worried when he stopped responding to her texts. That’s when Milling began to see concerning posts from her friends on social media.

“Then I go on Snapchat and I see people posting on their story ‘pray for Christian,’” she told the outlet. “Just, it was everywhere.”

The Spotsylvania Sheriff’s Office said Kenneth Watson, 18, was arrested and charged with homicide and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.

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“During the initial interviews, it was determined that [Watson] had fired a weapon, striking Christian as he was attempting to break up the fight,” the statement said.

Watson is currently being held without bond at the Rappahannock Regional Jail, according to inmate records reviewed by PEOPLE. It's not immediately clear if he's entered a plea or retained an attorney.

Milling told NBC4 she wasn’t surprised to find out Whalen was attempting to break up a fight when he was shot, remembering him as the “kindest person.”

“He would help anybody, like, even [if] it came down to his worst enemy,” Milling said.

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