Annasue 'Annie' Rocha, a 19-year-old female, was fatally shot on January 27, 2025, while working at the Martin's Supermarket on East Jackson Boulevard in Elkhart, Indiana. The incident unfolded at approximately 5:45 p.m. when a lone gunman, identified as 54-year-old Juan M. Sanchez, entered the store. Sanchez, who had recently moved to the area from Illinois, was in the store for about 20 minutes before the shooting began.
Witnesses reported that Sanchez was at the self-checkout area
where Rocha was working. He grabbed her wrist and displayed a gun he had concealed in his coat pocket. Another customer noticed the interaction and alerted a manager, who then confronted Sanchez. This intervention allowed Rocha to briefly step away. However, Sanchez then shot Rocha, causing her death. He proceeded to fire towards the manager and other patrons who were fleeing, striking and killing a 49-year-old customer named Benjamin S. Jeffrey. Before leaving the store, Sanchez walked back to where Rocha lay and shot her multiple more times.
After exiting the supermarket, Sanchez was confronted by two Elkhart Police officers, Corporal Paul Vandenburg and Patrolman Ethan Pasternak. Sanchez fired at the officers, injuring both. The officers returned fire, fatally shooting Sanchez at the scene. The Elkhart County Homicide Unit was activated to investigate the shooting, and the use of deadly force by the officers was later ruled as justified. The investigation into Sanchez's motive for the attack was ongoing, though Rocha's mother informed investigators that her daughter had been harassed by a man at the store prior to the incident; it is unknown if that man was Sanchez.
