Two Teens Arrested For Killing 16-Year-Old Selling Xbox

Last month, 16-year-old Johnny Peluyera and his father travelled to Gary, Indiana to sell their Xbox One. The buyers, who they had found using an online sales app, claimed they wanted to confirm the console worked prior to purchase. Peluyera and his father entered the meeting point, discovering too late that the buyers had lured them into an abandoned home under false pretenses. The situation then took a fatal turn.

While Peluyera was setting up the Xbox, one buyer pulled a gun. Noticing the firearm, his father signaled for them to leave the house. Peluyera grabbed the Xbox and was shot in the back as he fled outside. When police arrived, Peluyera still clutching the Xbox One, was dead in the passenger seat of his father's car. The two suspects, who the police described as black males in their late teens to early twenties, escaped.

Yesterday, officials in Lake County arrested two individuals believed to be the men who lured Peluyera and his father into the deadly trap. The authorities tracked the suspects, aged 17 and 18, to their homes in Gary and Crown Point. Based on the severity of the charges, the 17-year-old may be tried as an adult. The police have yet to release the names of the teenagers to the public.

Peluyera's parents continue to struggle with their son's death who was selling the Xbox One Elite console to buy a new cellphone. The day after his murder, Peluyera's driver's license arrived in the mail; a further reminder of the experiences his shooter stole from him and his family. "Just watch your babies," said his mother. "Hold them. Tell them you love them every day. Because I can never do that with mine again."

Peluyera's death is not the first that has resulted from attempts to buy or sell video game consoles. Last year, Danny Diaz-Delgado of Trenton, New Jersey was abducted and murdered while trying to purchase a PlayStation 4 from a man he met via Facebook Messenger. Faced with these deaths, police have urged everyone to buy and sell items in public places, ideally a police station parking lot, to help prevent further tragedies from occurring.