A man was killed in Dallas while selling his iPhone to someone he met on Facebook Marketplace. Ahmad Alkhalaf, 66, drove from Sachse to meet a buyer at a gas station in Oak Cliff on November 8, 2024. The meeting happened around 3 p.m. at a Valero station near Interstate 35 and South Marsalis Avenue, close to an elementary school.
Police arrested 19-year-old Amaya Medrano a few days later. She now faces a murder charge. Alkhalaf had been talking to someone on Facebook Marketplace about selling his black iPhone 15. Video cameras at nearby shops recorded what happened next.
The video showed Medrano talking to Alkhalaf by his truck for a short time. Then she ran away. As per Fox4News, when Alkhalaf went after her, she turned back and shot him. Two school police officers at the elementary school nearby heard the gunshot and ran over. They found Alkhalaf on the ground by his truck. Doctors at the hospital could not save him.
She was already in trouble with the law
Police figured out who Medrano was by looking at her tattoos on her face and neck. They matched these tattoos to pictures on her social media pages. Then they found something strange. The same Facebook account that wanted to buy the phone was now trying to sell a black iPhone 15 just three days after Alkhalaf died.
Police records show Medrano was already on probation when this happened. She had admitted to stabbing someone in 2023. A judge gave her five years of probation for that crime. Now she sits in Dallas County Jail with bail set at $1 million.
19 year-old girl, who recently got a free pass for stabbing someone, is now charged with Facebook Marketplace murder in Dallas.
— National Conservative (@NatCon2022) November 20, 2024
Amaya Medrano allegedly shot and killed Ahmad Alkhalaf, 66, in broad daylight at a gas station to steal an iPhone 15 he listed for sale. pic.twitter.com/bnnxqVVMv5
Things got more complicated when police caught another person involved. On November 15, they arrested 18-year-old Annika Aleman. Police documents say Medrano told them she and Aleman had talked about stealing the phone instead of paying for it.
Medrano said they only wanted to show the gun to scare Alkhalaf, not shoot him. The documents also say Aleman gave Medrano the gun and some cash before the meeting. Police found out that Aleman posted the iPhone for sale on her Facebook page on November 11, before police caught her.
People who knew Alkhalaf said he was a good man who took care of his family. His relatives said they could not believe someone killed him over a phone. Dallas police want anyone who knows anything about what happened to call 214-671-4095. They also tell people to meet at police stations when buying or selling things online and to bring someone with them to these meetings.
