Allen Counts was 23 and at a family gathering on a rural property in Hennepin, Oklahoma, on the evening of December 21, 2016, when he was fatally shot in the head. Relatives had been around a barn and a fire pit; an initial 911 caller believed the wound might have come from the direction of the fire and early accounts described the event as an accident. Allen was found inside the barn, lying in his own blood, and there was no one at his side able to give CPR when deputies arrived.

Court documents later described a different sequence: Allen had been shooting a BB gun at a teenage cousin identified as Bladen Wright. The cousin reportedly left, retrieved a 12-gauge shotgun, returned, and fired a close-range blast into the back of Allen’s head. The shotgun was removed from the property and later recovered at a relative’s home. The teen was arrested the next morning and charged as an adult; state records list Bladen Lee Wright as convicted in Garvin County case 2016-0606 of first-degree manslaughter and sentenced to fifteen years plus six months after a revocation.

Allen’s death was noted as an unusual homicide for the small Hennepin community and is listed on national compilations of Americans killed by gunfire on December 21, 2016. Did anyone who knew Allen or was at that gathering see or hear details that haven’t been shared publicly?