VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office announced Sunday it had arrested a 15-year-old boy as the accused second shooter in an attempted robbery that turned fatal Wednesday night in Pierson.
Martin Martinez, 15, faces charges of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder in the shooting which killed Odie Carbajal, 17, of Crescent City, and left an 18-year-old hurt. News 6 is naming Martinez due to the circumstances of the case.
Deputies responded around 10:15 p.m. Wednesday to the shooting in the area of 380 Main Street, locating a vehicle crashed along the road and Carbajal, its driver, unresponsive. Carbajal had multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead, according to the sheriff’s office. Of the two other passengers who were in the vehicle during the shooting, an 18-year-old had been shot in the leg and the other was uninjured, the sheriff’s office said.
Martinez was arrested after detectives obtained a search warrant and extracted data from his cellphone, reportedly finding evidence that tied him to the shooting, the sheriff’s office said on social media.
The 15-year-old’s arrest follows that of Tania Lopez Morales, 17, who turned herself in on Thursday and allegedly confessed to a role in the shooting, according to Sheriff Mike Chitwood.
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Video update from @SheriffChitwood on the arrest of Tania Lopez Morales for first-degree felony murder in Wednesday night's fatal shooting in Pierson: pic.twitter.com/Njbox7G4t3
— Volusia Sheriff (@VolusiaSheriff) August 9, 2024
“So, we come in contact with a 17-year-old who basically confesses to the whole thing. She said they they had ‘Ordered up weed;’ her, her 15-year-old brother and a 15-year-old friend had ordered up weed from our victims, a quarter pound of weed, and they decided rather than pay for it, ‘Let’s just take it,’ and in her words, ‘Things got out of control,’” Chitwood said Friday.
Morales had allegedly contacted Carbajal on Instagram and arranged to meet him in Pierson to purchase a quarter pound of marijuana, Chitwood said. She and Martinez are accused of approaching Carbajal at the driver’s side door, both aiming handguns with the intent to rob him, before firing the weapons, striking Carbajal and the 18-year-old who was with him in the car, the sheriff’s office says.
Chitwood said Morales is expected to be charged as an adult in the case, stating Friday it was yet to be seen “if we get to that point” with Martinez.
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