On the late evening of March 3, 2020, South Bend police responded to a ShotSpotter alert and a citizen report at a home in the 1600 block of North Elmer Street and found 19-year-old Alan Diaz-Coria lying on the walkway with a gunshot wound to the abdomen. He was taken to a nearby hospital and pronounced dead; an autopsy confirmed a single gunshot wound as the cause of death.

Investigators tied Diaz’s killing to an earlier home invasion with shots fired in Cass County, Michigan the same day. Ballistics from the Michigan scene matched a firearm used in the South Bend shooting. Detectives say Oliver Bwalya arranged to buy marijuana from Diaz and traveled to Indiana with three others. After a drug exchange paid with counterfeit money, Diaz reportedly yelled as Bwalya returned to a waiting vehicle, and the three companions opened fire. Ballistics showed multiple guns were used; Bwalya told police he never fired but identified the other three.

Trials were pending for James Edward Birtcher III and Adonis Zackeydarryl Harris. If anyone knew Alan or has information about the shooting, please come forward.