Salvador Martinez Diaz, a 25-year-old Hispanic man from Columbus, Ohio, was shot and killed on December 4, 2016, near his apartment building at Melroy Avenue and Kelburn Road. Investigators say he was a suspected member of the 18th Street gang and was targeted by members of MS-13 after playing soccer at the Resolute Athletic Complex. Several MS-13 members, including Jose Mendez-Peraza, reportedly waited in the complex parking lot, followed Martinez Diaz home and ambushed him; Mendez-Peraza and another MS-13 member opened fire with pistols, shooting him multiple times.

Following the murder, Mendez-Peraza was arrested and later pleaded guilty to participating in a racketeering conspiracy and murder through use of a firearm during a crime of violence; he received a 30-year sentence in March 2020. Pedro Alfonso Osorio-Flores was also implicated and was sentenced to 40 years in February 2021. The killing was part of a larger probe into MS-13 activity in Columbus that produced a 23-defendant indictment alleging racketeering, murder, attempted murder, extortion, money laundering, drug trafficking, assault, obstruction, witness intimidation, weapons offenses and immigration-related violations.

Are there readers who knew Salvador Martinez Diaz or who have information about the ambush near Melroy Avenue and Kelburn Road?