A young man from Norcross, Georgia, Luis Mario Munoz Ortiz, 21, was killed in what police believe was a targeted shooting in the fall of 2026. He was of Hispanic descent. Beyond his name and age, little has been shared publicly about the man he was, the life he lived, or the family that mourns him. His death, however, set in motion a multi-county police investigation that quickly led to arrests.
The fatal encounter happened around 6 p.m.
on Sunday, October 11, 2026, in the parking lot of the Capella Apartments on Preston Lake Drive in Tucker, a city in Gwinnett County. Residents called 911 to report gunshots. While officers were en route, a second call came in about a person lying on the ground in a common area. Police arrived to find Luis unresponsive with a gunshot wound. First responders rendered aid, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Gwinnett County Police Department detectives immediately began an investigation, interviewing witnesses and processing the scene. They soon determined the shooting was not a random act of violence but an isolated incident, likely stemming from a prior drug-related dispute between the victim and the suspects. Investigators identified a vehicle of interest, a red Chevrolet Cruze, and with the help of Flock license plate reader technology, they tracked it to the Augusta area, more than 100 miles away.
With assistance from the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office, detectives located and stopped the Chevrolet. The investigation led them to identify 19-year-old Yostin Valentin Lopez Gomez as a suspect. He was taken into custody in Martinez, a suburb of Augusta in Columbia County, where he had been staying for a construction job. Lopez Gomez was booked into the Gwinnett County jail on charges of malice murder, felony murder, and aggravated assault.
Further investigation by Gwinnett County police identified two additional teenage suspects. Arrest warrants alleged that Lopez Gomez drove two others to the apartment complex where 17-year-old Adrianna Rose Upcher and 18-year-old Elvins Orlando Ramos De Leon jumped out of the car and shot Munoz Ortiz. On October 16, a SWAT team raided an apartment on Jimmy Carter Boulevard in Norcross looking for Upcher. She was not there at the time but turned herself in to authorities hours later.
Upcher and Ramos De Leon were charged with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, and a gun charge. As of late October 2026, two of the three suspects were in custody. Elvins Orlando Ramos De Leon remained at large, and the Gwinnett County Police Department warned that he should be considered armed and dangerous. A neighbor who witnessed the SWAT raid later told a reporter, “Nobody wins. Somebody died, then somebody's locked up, and we're talking about teenagers.”
The case against the three teenagers is pending in Gwinnett County Superior Court. Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Elvins Orlando Ramos De Leon is encouraged to contact GCPD detectives at 770-513-5300. To remain anonymous, tipsters can contact Crime Stoppers at 404-577-TIPS (8477).
