Lawrence Zamora, a 29-year-old Hispanic man known to some as "Lencho," was killed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on the morning of March 13, 2024. At 9:37 a.m., officers were dispatched to the area of 237 Pennsylvania Street NE after the ShotSpotter system detected five gunshots. They found Lawrence with multiple gunshot wounds and rushed him to a hospital, but he did not survive his injuries.
Surveillance video from the scene captured the moments leading up to the shooting.
Lawrence and another person were seen talking with two other individuals when one of them suddenly raised a handgun and opened fire on Lawrence. As detectives began their investigation, witnesses at the scene told them the shooter went by the street name "Memphis." The case quickly expanded when investigators responded to another homicide later that same day. In the parking lot of a Twisters restaurant, a man named Donte Barnes had been fatally shot.
A major breakthrough came when ballistics evidence confirmed that the 9mm bullet casings found at both Lawrence's and Donte Barnes' murder scenes were a match, indicating they were fired from the same handgun. With evidence suggesting a single suspect was responsible for both killings, detectives worked to identify "Memphis." They soon learned his name was Gabriel Valenzuela-Greene Jr., 25. The investigation further linked him to the murder of Jacob Rivera, which had occurred nine days earlier on March 4. Police determined the string of violent crimes centered around drug-related robberies, in which Valenzuela-Greene would allegedly rob other dealers.
On March 15, just two days after Lawrence was killed, detectives tracked Valenzuela-Greene to a residence on California Street SE. When SWAT officers moved in, he attempted to flee but was apprehended and taken into custody. He was charged with three counts of murder and was also named a suspect in two kidnappings and a carjacking. A grand jury later indicted Valenzuela-Greene for all three murders, and he was subsequently sentenced for the crimes.
