Marquis Lopez Jr was a 20-year-old Black man from Wilmington who was killed in the early morning hours of October 17, 2021, after gunfire erupted near West 3rd and North Clayton Streets. Police were called about 2:00 a.m. and found him with a gunshot wound; early reports said he had been shot in the head. He was taken for medical care but later died from his injuries.

Initial public releases were limited: early reports said no arrests had been made and no motive was disclosed. Investigators later tied the fatal shooting to the 1500 block of West 3rd Street and said Lopez had been walking there before the encounter that ended his life. The case remained under investigation for years before police developed a suspect identified as Michael Samuel Pacho Bernier and said the incident grew out of a dispute over money connected to a drug transaction. Surveillance footage reportedly showed a silver Cadillac CTS arriving and someone firing multiple shots.

If anyone witnessed the shooting near West 3rd and North Clayton Streets or remembers seeing a silver Cadillac CTS in that area around 2:00 a.m. on October 17, 2021, please come forward with information.