Police say online car sale led to ‘robbery gone wrong,’ death of 19-year-old man

A 19-year-old man was shot to death Thursday and a suspect has been arrested in the wake of what Fairfield police are describing as an online purchase gone wrong.

Officers found the man dead from a gunshot wound in the 1000 block of Tyler Street around 12:20 p.m. Thursday after getting a call of a man down, police said.

Investigators learned that the man had responded with cash to a “car for sale” ad on OfferUp.com, according to police, who said the man was shot “in what appears to be a robbery gone wrong.”

On Friday, the Police Department’s Investigation Division arrested a 24-year-old San Pablo resident, according to police. The suspect was booked into the Solano County Jail on suspicion of homicide, police said.

Police are continuing to investigate the shooting.

In the wake of the shooting, police are reminding the community that when conducting sales or purchases of items from a private individual, it’s best to conduct the actual transaction in a public place.

The Fairfield Police Department offers a Safe Exchange Zone for residents to make online purchases in a monitored area. The zone is in the parking adjacent to the police station at Kentucky and Jackson streets. There are two designated parking spaces under 24-hour surveillance.