Devonte Ortiz, 19, was fatally shot during a dispute over fireworks on July 4, 2018, at the Pleasant Hills Apartments in southeast Austin. Ortiz and friends were setting off fireworks in the early morning when 41-year-old Jason Roche approached them and asked them to stop. A heated argument followed and Roche shot Ortiz.

Witnesses and cellphone video contradicted Roche’s account that Ortiz posed a threat; footage showed Ortiz was not holding a gun and was moving away when he was shot. The Travis County Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide. Police recovered a handgun in the parking lot and an AR-15 style rifle near the scene. Roche was arrested, charged with first-degree murder, tried beginning March 10, 2020, convicted March 13, 2020, and later sentenced to 43 years in prison.

Ortiz was remembered by family and the community at a vigil at the Travis High School football field as a star football player and an honor roll student.