On Sunday afternoon, October 18, 2020, 25-year-old Domnyk Aasis Marez was killed in a shooting near Tanner Park in Salt Lake City, Utah. The incident began with a dispute over a planned marijuana purchase. Marez had met with 17-year-old Andrew Whatcott along with a man and a woman to complete the transaction. When a disagreement over price escalated, Marez’s female companion asked Whatcott to exit her silver Subaru; he refused, and Marez physically removed him from the car.

As Marez sat in the passenger seat and the woman prepared to drive away, Whatcott stood on a nearby grassy area and opened fire at the vehicle. Multiple rounds struck the windshield and the rear passenger door. Marez was found slumped in the front passenger seat with a fatal gunshot wound to the forehead; the two companions were seriously injured and taken to hospital. Whatcott fled, discarding the handgun later recovered by passersby and turned over to police, and was arrested at an apartment complex shortly afterward.

What was the motive behind the exchange turning deadly, and does anyone have information about the events leading up to that October afternoon?