On the night of May 4, 2016, 18-year-old Oscar Gonzalez went to the Knights Inn motel near East 21st Street and Shadeland Avenue after responding to an online advertisement offering a meeting with a woman. The initial encounter inside a room turned violent when 23-year-old Demarcus Poole produced a gun and robbed the first man of his cash. That victim left but returned with Gonzalez to confront Poole in the motel parking lot just before midnight. Witnesses said gunfire erupted during the confrontation; two men were struck. Gonzalez was shot in the leg, taken to a nearby gas station, and then transported to Eskenazi Hospital, where he died a short time later.

Police found Poole inside a motel room with a gunshot wound. Investigators focused on Poole, and on May 17, 2016, an arrest warrant was secured and he was booked into the Marion County Jail. Prosecutors charged him with armed robbery, reckless homicide, and carrying a handgun without a license. Later in 2016 Poole entered a plea agreement and was convicted of robbery involving a weapon or bodily injury and reckless homicide; court records show sentences of 12 years for the robbery and 6 years for the reckless homicide imposed on October 12, 2016, with reporting indicating an effective 12-year prison term.

Anyone who knew Gonzalez, witnessed the shooting, or has information about the events that night is asked to come forward.