Jeremy A. Jones, a 33-year-old White male from McKean, Pennsylvania, died in the early morning hours of October 13, 2020, after a confrontation outside Partners Tavern on East Lake Road in Harborcreek Township, near Erie. He was known to family and friends as “Jay,” and his obituary described him as an Erie-born man who worked in construction and had recently started Great Lakes Contractors with his uncle. Away from work, he was remembered as someone who loved hunting, fishing, riding his motorcycle, and being with his children and family.
The shooting happened at about 1:45 a.m. after Corey Ray Kendig, then 29, left Partners Tavern. According to reports of the police account, several men approached Kendig outside the business, and a fight broke out in the parking lot. During that confrontation, Kendig allegedly drew a 9mm handgun and fired, striking Jeremy in the stomach or abdomen. Jeremy was unarmed and died at the scene. The Erie County Coroner’s Office ruled the death a homicide.
Kendig was arrested soon afterward and charged in connection with Jeremy’s death. The charges included criminal homicide, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, and related counts. He was initially held in the Erie County Prison without bond. Prosecutors later argued that Kendig’s use of deadly force was not justified, saying his injuries from the fight were not severe enough to support a reasonable fear of death or serious bodily injury.
Kendig’s defense centered on self-defense. His attorneys argued that he had been attacked or “jumped” by a group outside the tavern and that the prosecution could not disprove that he fired because he feared for his safety. Kendig had a license to carry the handgun used in the shooting. No one other than Kendig was charged in the case.
In August 2021, an Erie County jury found Kendig not guilty of all criminal charges after roughly an hour of deliberation. The charges considered at trial included homicide-related offenses such as first-degree murder, third-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter, and involuntary manslaughter. The acquittal meant Kendig faced no criminal conviction for Jeremy’s death.
The case continued in civil court after the criminal trial ended. Jeremy’s mother, acting on behalf of his estate, filed a negligence lawsuit against Kendig in Erie County Common Pleas Court. That civil case ended in December 2022 with a $585,000 settlement. Kendig also filed a separate civil action against Jeremy’s mother and estate, but that case was later discontinued.
Kendig later sued Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Nicholas Stolar in federal court, claiming the trooper had violated his civil rights by charging him without probable cause. In June 2024, U.S. District Judge Cathy Bissoon dismissed Kendig’s lawsuit. The judge ruled that the trooper had probable cause and qualified immunity, and she rejected the idea that Kendig’s self-defense claim erased the basis for a criminal investigation. In her ruling, she noted that a person had died, Jeremy was unarmed, and the criminal justice system had already produced the outcome Kendig sought when the jury acquitted him.
Jeremy’s death left behind two sharply different legal narratives: prosecutors portrayed the shooting as an unjustified use of deadly force during a parking-lot fight, while the defense portrayed Kendig as a man reacting to being attacked by multiple people. The criminal case ended with an acquittal, but the civil settlement and the later federal ruling kept the aftermath of Jeremy’s killing in court for years after the gunfire outside Partners Tavern.
