Matthew Wayne Kendall was 16 when he was shot dead in Huntingburg, Indiana, on the night of Friday, July 22, 2016. A Southridge High School student known for his love of music and sense of humor, Matthew was at a friend’s home on North Main Street shortly after 11:30 p.m. when a call to police reported a shooting. Responding officers found him with a gunshot wound to the head; Huntingburg Fire Department and Memorial Hospital EMS provided care but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Investigators determined Matthew was visiting a 15-year-old friend who was handling a 9mm Glock that had been recently stolen from a nearby vehicle. The firearm discharged while the friend was showing it to Matthew. The 15-year-old was arrested on a Level 5 felony count of reckless homicide and a Class A misdemeanor for theft and was placed in a juvenile detention center.

Matthew’s mother later sued the gun’s owner, who had left the loaded handgun in an unlocked truck. Both Dubois Circuit Court and the Indiana Court of Appeals found the owner not civilly liable, citing an Indiana law that immunizes gun owners from liability for subsequent uses of stolen firearms.

Did anyone in Huntingburg know Matthew or have information about the truck from which the gun was taken?