Lifeguard kidnapped, shot dead during heartwarming deed for young brother

A 20-year-old man who was purchasing a PlayStation to gift to his younger brother was shot dead after the purchase went horribly wrong.

Danny Diaz-Delgado, 20, noticed someone selling a Sony PS4 console on Facebook and on Friday, March 23, left home to meet the seller.

He told his family he would be back in an hour. He never returned.

A passerby found him unresponsive on March 24, lying face down with his hands tied behind his back and tape wound around his face.

There were gunshot wounds to his torso, head and legs according to officials.

Danny Diaz-Delgado, 20, was found bound and fatally shot. Photo / Facebook

They described the attack as an "execution-style killing".

"He was a good person who glowed with the love of God," mother Olga Diaz told ABC7. "And now he's dead."

Unnamed sources told The Trentonian that Diaz-Delgado had been reported missing just hours before his bullet-riddled body was found.

Rufus Thompson, 29, was arrested in connection with the killing, and charged with kidnapping and murder, Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo J Onofri said.

Thompson has previously pleaded guilty to burglary charges in Mercer County and was sentenced in 2016 to three years in prison, court records show. Photo / Facebook

Detectives said they found an empty PS4 box in Thompson's home. Also found in his home was a roll of pink duct tape and a television with a cut power cord.

Diaz-Delgado's obituary said that he was into sports, camping, martial arts and track and field.

He was a member of the Princeton Martial Arts Center. The organisation shared on social media that its members were "heartbroken and still reeling from the loss" of their friend who "worked all of his young life to keep his family together."