On the morning of March 18, 2022, 17-year-old Terez Parker Jr. was shot on Roger Street in South Bend, Indiana, and later died at a local hospital from a single gunshot wound to the abdomen. A student at Rise Up Academy, an employee at Notre Dame’s South Dining Hall, and a father, Terez was born November 13, 2004, and remembered as a beloved son, brother, and friend.

Police say the shooting occurred during a pre-arranged meeting to buy a handgun. According to investigators and witness statements, Terez and another teen arranged to purchase the weapon from 16-year-old Rafael Diaz-Garcia. Reports describe a masked Terez and the other teen allegedly attempting to rob Diaz-Garcia inside his vehicle, where a struggle ended when Diaz-Garcia fired the shot. Diaz-Garcia and another male fled the scene; the teen who accompanied Terez initially tried to help and then left before officers arrived.

Two juveniles were arrested. Diaz-Garcia was charged with dangerous possession of a firearm and attempted providing of a firearm to an ineligible person and received a six-year sentence with three years on probation; the other juvenile faced a delinquency petition for felony murder and attempted robbery. Does anyone have information about the meeting on Roger Street or the moments before the shooting?