Do you know who murdered Donald Mattingly? In the early hours of a Monday morning in June 2015, the vibrant Louisville hip-hop scene was dealt a heavy blow. Donald Lee Mattingly, a 36-year-old male musician known to many as Donnie McFly or Wreck D Mic, was leaving a concert at a club with his good friend, Henry Anderson Jr. As they were near 29th and Kentucky streets around 2 a.m., gunfire erupted, shattering the night and changing lives forever.
Both Mattingly and Anderson, also a local rapper known as Father Jah, were struck by
the bullets in what their families would later describe as a senseless and stupid crime. They were rushed to University Hospital, where medical staff fought to save them. Tragically, Donald Mattingly succumbed to his injuries, and he was pronounced dead just before noon on Tuesday, June 9, 2015. He was a father to seven children.
In the wake of the shooting, the community and Mattingly's family were left grappling with the sudden and violent loss. His brother, Stephen Mattingly, expressed a desire for his brother's life and music to be celebrated, a celebration that was painfully incomplete as the person responsible for his death remained at large. Family members of both victims were baffled by the motive behind the shooting, stating that the two men had no known conflicts or 'gang beef' that would provoke such violence.
As Henry Anderson Jr. fought for his life in critical condition, the Louisville Metro Police Department began their investigation into the double shooting. Family members and law enforcement pleaded with the public for any information that could lead to an arrest. At the time of the initial reports, no suspects had been identified, and no arrests had been made, leaving a painful void and an unanswered question of 'why' for a grieving family and a shaken community.
