On the evening of July 29, 2017, 10-year-old Garrett Eugene Spaulding was outside with his parents and a sibling at the family home in Miller, Missouri, helping to corral a rooster. The boy’s father was carrying a small-caliber rifle and reportedly tripped and fell in the brush; the fall caused the firearm to discharge and a single round struck Garrett in the head. Garrett was taken to Mercy Hospital in Springfield, where he died the next evening at 9:33 p.m. on July 30, 2017.

Law enforcement from Lawrence County investigated and concluded the shooting was unintentional, resulting from the fall. Authorities classified the incident as an accidental shooting; no arrests were made and no criminal charges were filed. Garrett was a student in the local Miller schools and is survived by his parents, Seth and April Spaulding, and two sisters.

If anyone witnessed the incident or has additional information about what happened that evening, please share what is known.