Dylan James Dean Hedges was 17 when he was fatally shot on November 8, 2017, at about 5:00 p.m. at a rural residence on West 202nd Street, a gravel road off C Highway in Ray County, Missouri. Paramedics responded but he did not survive. He had attended Lawson High School and worked at a scrap yard.

The Ray County Sheriff’s Office opened an investigation and requested assistance from the Missouri State Highway Patrol. Initial accounts from family, friends and law enforcement described the shooting as possibly accidental, but public reports contain limited detail about the specific events that led to the weapon discharging. No arrests, charges or suspect identifications have been released in the information provided.

The community held a prayer vigil and friends honored Hedges by wearing camouflage to school. A funeral service was held at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Kearney, Missouri. If anyone has information about what happened that evening, please come forward.