23 year old murdered during attempted robbery
On a cold December evening in New Orleans, 23-year-old Hispanic male Rudy Benavidez-Zamora was fatally shot. The incident occurred on Saturday, December 19, 2015, near the intersection of South Salcedo and Baudin streets. Benavidez-Zamora and a friend had just parked their vehicle and were getting out when they were approached by two unknown men.
The two assailants attempted to rob Benavidez-Zamora's friend. During the course of this attempted armed robbery, one of the suspects fired a gun twice. Rudy Benavidez-Zamora was struck in the head by the gunfire and was pronounced dead at the scene. The murder took place in an area that had been experiencing a string of robberies targeting Hispanic individuals.
In the weeks following the shooting, investigators explored the connection between Benavidez-Zamora's murder and the other robberies in the vicinity. In early January 2016, police arrested a 35-year-old man named Robert Jenkins in connection with a series of armed robberies. While authorities acknowledged the pattern of crimes against Hispanics in the area, they have not publicly announced any direct evidence linking Jenkins to the murder of Rudy Benavidez-Zamora, though it has not been entirely ruled out as a possibility. The case remains a homicide investigation.
