Nicholas Mortazavi, 20, of Tampa, Florida, was fatally shot on July 20, 2018 after a confrontation in a McDonald’s parking lot on South Dale Mabry Highway. Nicholas, a mixed-ethnicity college student attending school in St. Petersburg, was selling marijuana when the buyer, identified as 19-year-old Marquez Davon Roberts, paid with counterfeit money. Roberts and a 17-year-old accomplice armed themselves with firearms during the dispute. Nicholas was shot in the chest, found by police, and later died at the hospital.

Both Roberts and the 17-year-old were charged in connection with the killing. Roberts faced charges including first-degree murder, carrying a concealed firearm, and uttering a counterfeit instrument; the juvenile was charged with third-degree murder with a firearm. The case drew attention because the fatal encounter arose from an attempted drug sale and the use of counterfeit currency.