A grandmother contacted a reporter to apologize to the relatives of 66-year-old Ahmad Alkhalaf, who was shot during a 2024 Marketplace meetup.
DALLAS — A year after a Facebook Marketplace sale turned into a fatal ambush at an Oak Cliff gas station, a teenage suspect’s grandmother publicly apologized to the victim’s family, speaking out days after both defendants accepted long prison sentences. The case, which authorities called a planned robbery for a phone, ended without a trial this fall.
The apology followed the sentencing of two teens tied to the killing of Alkhalaf, a husband and father from Sachse. Prosecutors said 19-year-old Amaya Medrano shot Alkhalaf, while 18-year-old Annika Aleman arranged the meeting. Medrano received 55 years; Aleman received 37. With the sentences entered, the district attorney’s office said the criminal case is resolved. The grandmother, identified as Sheila Dena, said she reached out to law enforcement and local media on her own to apologize and to say her granddaughter will serve her punishment.
“I would like to say to the Alkhalaf family I am so incredibly sorry,” Dena said, adding that her family once endured a similar loss when her brother was killed during a robbery decades ago. Assistant District Attorney Alicia Patterson described Dena’s outreach as unusual in a murder case, noting she expressed sorrow directly to the victim’s loved ones. Investigators said the teens used a Facebook listing to lure Alkhalaf to a gas station off I-35 and South Marsalis Avenue on a November afternoon in 2024, then attempted to rob him. Evidence tied messages and planning to Aleman and identified Medrano as the shooter, officials said.
Neighbors and business owners recalled marked police cars crowding the station that day as paramedics worked behind taped-off pumps. The shooting underscored concerns about in-person exchanges for online sales. Departments around North Texas have promoted “safe exchange” areas for years, typically in front of police stations or inside lobbies, but detectives say many transactions still happen in parking lots. In this case, prosecutors said, the plan was a robbery from the start and ended in a gunshot that left a family grieving and two teenagers facing decades in prison.
Legally, both defendants pleaded guilty under agreements with the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office. There are no pending hearings, and any appeals would be constrained by the plea terms, officials said. Medrano and Aleman have been transferred to state custody. Prosecutors said they will notify the family of any parole-related developments years from now. No civil filings have been made public. Police said they are not seeking additional suspects.
Outside the courtroom, a man who lives near the station said the case shook the block. “It was over a phone,” he said, pointing to the rows of pumps. Dena said she plans to keep praying for the victim’s family and believes her granddaughter can still help others one day. “People need love,” she said. Patterson said the family’s focus is on honoring Alkhalaf’s life and keeping his memory close.
As of Saturday, the case stands closed with two convictions and sentences recorded; the next formal action will be routine archival of the judgments in county and state systems this week.
Author note: Last updated November 15, 2025.