Mekko Stumblingbear was 19 when he was fatally shot in Wichita, Kansas, on Friday, April 22, 2016. He had walked from his home to his boss’s house at 1823 W. McCormick where his demolition crew sometimes gathered before work. That day there was no work; coworkers were handling airsoft-style guns in the living room when a real handgun was picked up by 22-year-old coworker Jacob Pulliam. Mekko suffered a single, fatal gunshot wound to the face.

Police investigators quickly treated the shooting as a homicide. Pulliam was arrested the same day; he first said Mekko shot himself but later admitted he pointed the gun at Mekko and pulled the trigger, saying he believed the weapon was unloaded. Pulliam pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and in August 2016 was sentenced to three years and two months in prison after prosecutors dropped unrelated drug charges as part of the plea.

Mekko’s family remembered him as a kind, happy young man who hoped to join the military and start a family, and his death was deeply felt in the local Native American community. Did anyone who knew Mekko or the crew ever notice tension or unsafe behavior around firearms before that morning?