A planned gun sale between two teenagers in late summer 2022 ended in fatal violence. Nineteen-year-old Marcos A. Martinez of Merrillville, Indiana, met another 19-year-old, Elijah Davis, on August 24, 2022 inside a vehicle to buy a firearm arranged through a mutual friend. After Martinez examined the weapon, court records say Martinez, who was carrying his own handgun, allegedly indicated he would take the firearm without paying. A confrontation followed and Davis, reportedly fearing robbery, fired multiple shots. Martinez was wounded in the chest, bicep, and side, was found on the ground, and was later pronounced dead at Methodist Hospitals Southlake.

The case record notes that the mutual friend who set up the meeting initially gave false information to law enforcement before acknowledging their role in connecting the two men. If anyone knew Marcos, witnessed the August 24 meeting, or has information about the purchase or the friend who arranged it, please share what is known.