Thirteen-year-old Ethan Hunter Payne died after a single gunshot on the afternoon of October 1, 2014, at a home in Lexington, South Carolina. Ethan, an eighth-grader at Lexington Middle School, had been at the house with friends following a half-day of school. He was taken to a local hospital but was pronounced dead there.

Investigators with the Lexington County Coroner’s Office and local police found a gun safe in the residence and examined how a firearm became accessible to the teenagers. Authorities concluded the shooting was a tragic accident; no evidence of criminal intent was released, no suspects were identified, and no arrests or charges were announced. Ethan’s family held a funeral, and he was buried at Chattanooga National Cemetery in Tennessee.

If anyone was at the home that afternoon or has information about how the firearm was accessed, please come forward.