Juan Manuel Martinez, 26, was killed on November 1, 2009, in Mount Airy, North Carolina, one of four people shot at the Woods TV store on Worth Street downtown. Sixteen rounds were fired from a high-powered assault rifle; two victims died at the scene and two others later died at Northern Surry County Hospital. Two of the other victims were Juan’s brothers, Victor Alfonso Martinez and Javier Manuel Martinez, and the fourth was Marcos Alvedo Aguilar.

Authorities arrested 29-year-old Marcos Gonzalez the next morning at a Super 8 motel in Martinsville, Virginia, about 50 miles northeast of Mount Airy. He was known to the victims and was suspected of carrying out the shooting in retaliation over a female. Gonzalez had been released from prison about two years earlier after serving more than four years for a 2002 conviction for kidnapping a minor.

The incident prompted an intense manhunt across Surry County; officers stopped a vehicle matching the suspect car and briefly detained two men who were later cleared. Investigators followed multiple leads and did not rule out the possibility of additional suspects. Any readers who knew Juan or have information about that day are asked to come forward.