In the early morning hours of March 8, 2015, a young life was tragically cut short in Union Gap, Washington. Ten-year-old Nathaniel Reedy-McCoy, a Caucasian male, was with his grandfather, Steven A. Reedy, outside of a trailer. The pair had gone to investigate a sudden loss of power from their generator when a single gunshot fatally wounded the boy in the chest. He was rushed to a local hospital but succumbed to his injuries.
At the time of the incident, three other people, including Nathaniel's sister, were present at the home.
Initially, the circumstances surrounding the shooting were unclear, with police not immediately identifying any suspects or a possible motive, though they did state it was not believed to be gang-related. The investigation continued as authorities worked to piece together the events of that fatal morning. An autopsy later provided a critical clue: the gunshot that killed Nathaniel was fired from a very close range, estimated to be between two and six feet away.
This new evidence led investigators to focus on the only person who was in such close proximity to Nathaniel at the time of the shooting: his own grandfather. In July 2016, over a year after the boy's death, Steven A. Reedy, then 58, was charged by Yakima County prosecutors with manslaughter and unlawful possession of a firearm. Despite the charges and the findings of the investigation that pointed to him as the sole individual close enough to have fired the fatal shot, Reedy has publicly denied that he killed his grandson. The narrative he provided to police was that his grandson was shot by an unknown assailant while they were checking on the generator.
