Tre’Von Damillion Barnett, a 9-year-old Black boy, was found mortally wounded just after midnight on August 16, 2020, inside a home in the 1100 block of Rose Street in South Bend, Indiana. Police were dispatched around 12:26 a.m.; medics attempted life-saving measures but Tre’Von was pronounced dead at the scene and the St. Joseph County Metro Homicide Unit opened an investigation.

Investigators said the gun discharged while juveniles were playing and that no adults were believed to have been directly involved in the shooting. Court documents later reported a child at the scene saying that an adult, identified as Demetrious Barnett, regularly brought guns to the house and had been showing the children a gun the day before Tre’Von was killed. The case focused on how the firearm arrived and who controlled it. Demetrious Barnett pleaded guilty in federal court to being a felon in possession of a firearm and was sentenced to 46 months in prison, with one year of supervised release, on a federal gun charge tied to the events.

Family memorials remembered Tre’Von as a bright, energetic child who attended Muessel Elementary, loved riding his bike, jumping on a trampoline, making TikTok videos, and spending time at the beach with family. Does anyone in South Bend have information about how the firearm came into that home or saw the children playing that night?