On the evening of February 26, 2020, 18-year-old Zane Aaron Lee was shot and killed in Rockport, Indiana after intervening in a physical altercation on a porch near Seminary and South 9th Street. Lee and his girlfriend had been in a vehicle nearby when they saw a young woman being struck by her ex-boyfriend. Lee stepped out to try to stop the assault and help the woman.

The male aggressor, identified as 19-year-old Joseph Allen Petry, produced a handgun and fired two shots into the air before turning the weapon on Lee. Lee was struck while attempting to flee. Responders from the Spencer County Sheriff’s Department, Rockport City Police, and Indiana State Police arrived after reports of shots fired around 8:30 p.m.; officers and Spencer County EMS administered life-saving measures but Lee died of his injuries.

Petry was arrested the next morning and initially charged with murder. Later court filings describe the dispute as having started over a social media post. In June 2021 Petry pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and pointing a firearm and received a combined sentence of 25 years.

If anyone witnessed the shooting or knew Zane, what can be shared about that night or his life?