An 18-year-old in Baltimore was shot and killed after meeting up with someone to make a Facebook Marketplace purchase, then deciding against the sale.
via People:
Marques Harris, also 18, has been charged with first degree murder and multiple handgun violations after detectives say he fatally shot high school student Carlos Carrazana Ricardo on Nov. 26, the Baltimore Police Department shared in a release.
Carrazana Ricardo was found lying in the road with a gunshot wound to the head shortly before 8 p.m. on Nov. 26. Harris was arrested less than a week later on Dec. 2.
According to his obituary, Carrazana Ricardo “loved football and cars” and is survived by his brother, parents, step brother, aunts and uncles, cousins and multiple close friends.
According to CBS News, Carrazana Ricardo was a student at J.P. McCaskey High School who came to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, from Cuba in 2022. The outlet notes, citing charging documents, that the teen traveled 80 miles with a friend for a Facebook Marketplace car deal.
As he decided against it and drove off, he was reportedly shot in the head. He then died at the Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland.
Local outlet WPMT reports — citing the charging documents — that Carrazana Ricardo’s friend took the wheel of his car after Carrazana Ricardo was shot by one of the multiple rounds fired, and eventually crashed the vehicle while trying to seek help.
The outlet also noted that, according to police, the phone number the victim was communicating with for the Marketplace meetup was eventually traced back to Harris. Carrazana Ricardo’s friend then identified Harris and the suspect was arrested at his home, where police found a handgun, per CBS.
Harris told police that he was selling the vehicle on Facebook Marketplace, per CBS, and that he heard gunshots after the sale was called off and entered his brother’s car.
He’s reportedly due in court on Jan. 3 for a preliminary hearing.
The Baltimore Police Department did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for additional information on Saturday.
“The loss is being felt widely in our school community,” Dr. Justin Reese, the principal of Carrazana Ricardo’s school wrote in a letter, per CBS. “Please keep Carlos’ family, friends and our students and staff in your thoughts as we process this loss.”
The Better Business Bureau of Greater Maryland’s Angie Barnett told local outlet WBAL-TV that shoppers should “take somebody with you” for purchases on Facebook Marketplace.
Councilman John Bullock added to CBS that his heart “goes out to anyone who loses a family member, having lost family members myself.”
“It’s a hard thing to deal with, especially when they were really just trying to make a transaction. They weren’t involved in anything nefarious,” Bullock said, before adding: “The loss of one person is still too much, so a lot of folks and neighbors may not feel that drop. We still just have a lot more work to do in the city.”
Senseless.
