photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Alejandro Martinez-Diaz appears in Douglas County District Court on Tuesday, April 12, 2022, during the first day of his jury trial for attempted first-degree murder. The trial has been delayed pending resolution of an appealed order in the case.

Just weeks after he was released on bond in an attempted first-degree murder case, a Lawrence teenager was on social media showing off a handgun and displaying drugs for sale, according to a recently released police affidavit in the case.

The teenager, Alejandro Martinez-Diaz, 18, had posted a $75,000 bond in a case where he was accused of shooting a young woman in North Lawrence on May 27, 2021. Months later, on Oct. 1, Martinez-Diaz was arrested on suspicion of criminal possession of a firearm. A court order in the attempted murder case had barred him from possessing or using a firearm. However, Martinez-Diaz was released later on Oct. 1 on a $2,000 bond, and charges for the arrest were not filed at that time, according to court records.

Then in March of this year, still awaiting trial for attempted murder, Martinez-Diaz was arrested again for the October case. He was charged with intent to distribute prescription drugs and marijuana and with possession of a firearm. He now is in the Douglas County Jail with a bond set at $250,000.

An arrest affidavit provided to the Journal-World this week provides additional details about his drug and firearms case, among them that a school resource officer contacted police after being made aware of “drug activity being conducted on Snapchat.” According to the affidavit, the SRO saw photographs of multiple boxes of marijuana vape pens, multiple containers of marijuana and a baggie containing “multiple Xanax bars.”

The SRO said a former Free State High School student reported to her that the social media account was owned by Martinez-Diaz and was “the account he utilized to sell drugs.”

Lawrence police then secured search warrants to see associated Internet Protocol, or IP, addresses and the Snapchat account, which had been created less than two weeks after Martinez-Diaz had posted bond in the attempted murder case.

Police also observed a person on the social media account owned by Martinez-Diaz showing off a Smith and Wesson handgun and ammunition. A detective determined that the person in the videos was Martinez-Diaz based on Martinez-Diaz’s distinctive tattoos. The detective also observed on the Snapchat account several references to Martinez-Diaz speaking with multiple individuals about how to purchase illegal drugs and a gun, according to the affidavit. The affidavit states that Martinez-Diaz shut down a Snapchat account in August and started a new one in September, where he allegedly continued to offer drugs for sale.

About 15 pages of the affidavit released to the Journal-World remain sealed by court order.

Information in a sworn arrest affidavit is intended to lay out probable cause for an arrest warrant. The information therein has not been proved in a court of law.

Martinez-Diaz’s trial for attempted murder was scheduled to begin this week, but it has been indefinitely delayed after a witness for the state, another teenager, was held in contempt for refusing to answer any questions.