In the early morning hours of November 21, 2020, a drug deal in a Jasper, Indiana trailer park turned deadly, leaving two young men dead. One of the deceased was Andres Wesley Cristian Lopez, a 19-year-old male from Owensboro, Kentucky. The incident, which unfolded at the Maple Grove trailer park, was the result of a planned robbery that escalated into a fatal exchange of gunfire.
Investigations into the shooting revealed that Andres Lopez had traveled to Jasper with an adult female and a juvenile to sell two pounds of marijuana to 21-year-old Tre Lee Carnahan of Jasper. Unbeknownst to Lopez, Carnahan had no intention of paying for the drugs and had instead orchestrated a plan to rob him at gunpoint. Carnahan had confided in friends about his intentions prior to the fatal encounter.
Two other individuals were later implicated in the robbery-turned-homicide. Stephen Gomez, 24, of Huntingburg, and Kevin Wayman, 53, of Taswell, were arrested in February 2022 following a lengthy investigation. It was determined that Wayman had supplied the handgun used by Carnahan in the incident. He allegedly loaned the weapon to Gomez, who then provided it to Carnahan, knowing it would be used in the planned robbery. Gomez's role in the tragic event was to act as a lookout and to create a diversion by throwing a brick at Lopez's vehicle.
During the botched robbery, both Carnahan and Lopez drew firearms and shot each other. Both men sustained fatal gunshot wounds to the chest. Following the exchange of fire, Lopez's vehicle fled the scene and was later found by police on Rhine Strasse in Jasper, where the driver had called 911. Lopez was transported to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. Carnahan was found lying on the ground in the trailer park and was driven to the hospital by Gomez and another individual, where he too was pronounced dead.
In the aftermath of the investigation, Stephen Gomez was charged with aiding robbery, obstruction of justice, and possession of marijuana. Kevin Wayman faced charges of aiding armed robbery and false informing. Wayman later pleaded guilty to his charges. As part of a plea agreement, he was sentenced to 1,095 days in the Indiana Department of Correction for aiding in armed robbery, with the remaining time suspended to supervised probation and home detention. He also received a concurrent 180-day sentence for false informing. As conditions of his plea, he was ordered to have no contact with the families of Lopez and Carnahan and to testify truthfully in any proceedings involving his co-defendants. At the time of Gomez's and Wayman's arrests, it was reported that there was an outstanding arrest warrant for one other adult and that a juvenile case was also pending in connection with the incident.
