Danilo Martinez, of Levittown, was killed early Monday morning, May 10, in what police suspect was a robbery attempt.

Martinez, a cook at the Bethpage Townhouse Diner, had been picked up by a friend at his Amber Lane home shortly before 4:30 a.m. and was on his way to Kennedy Airport to return to his family in Honduras, according to Detective Sergeant William Cocks of the Nassau County Homicide Department, when, on Amber Lane and Gardiners Avenue, they discovered that they had a flat tire. When they stopped to change the tire, according to Cocks, "they were accosted by two gunmen who announced a robbery and, for whatever reason, it escalated into a shooting."

Martinez was taken to Nassau County Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 6:30 a.m., approximately two hours after the shooting. Martinez's friend, the driver of the vehicle, was not injured.

Cocks stated that the apparent motive for the shooting was an attempted robbery. When asked if anything was taken by the suspected robbers, Cocks responded, "We don't know yet but we did recover some money at the scene. They did take something out of the van but we're not sure whether it was money or items or what it was."

The two men who accosted Martinez and his friend fled the scene in a dark colored automobile. At press time, the police did not yet have any suspects.

Detectives are requesting that if anyone has any knowledge of the incident to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-TIPS. All callers will remain anonymous.