Police suspect gang activity in slaying of North Las Vegan

Jen Lawson and Timothy Pratt

Tuesday, June 10, 2003 | 9:41 a.m.

Metro homicide detectives are investigating an apparently unprovoked attack on a 48-year-old man near North Rancho and Vegas drives as he walked home with groceries Sunday morning.

The victim, Benito Zambrano-Lopez, died Monday morning at University Medical Center after he was beaten and shot five times in the back on Tumbleweed Avenue, near Riverside Drive, about 10:30 a.m. Sunday. Police suspect gang involvement.

"Four black males in their teens approached the victim and started yelling and beating him to the ground," Sgt. David Stansbury of Metro's gang crime section said.

The suspects took Zambrano-Lopez's bag of groceries and shot him five times in the back, Stansbury said. They ran from the scene, heading east on Riverside Drive.

Paramedics took Zambrano-Lopez to University Medical Center, where he immediately underwent surgery. He died Monday morning. Detectives weren't able to speak to Zambrano-Lopez before he died, Stansbury said.

Local residents said the surrounding neighborhood has a growing Hispanic population in a traditionally black area, but they disagreed about whether the slaying may have been related to race.

Robert Houston, an 18-year-old black man, said it boils down to money and territory between competing gangs.

"In the last three years since I've been living here, more Mexicans have been moving in, and they start slanging weed and stuff like that," he said. "And the Bloods have problems with them taking their money.

"I don't think this has to do with race, but with money."

He said his girlfriend is Mexican. "I don't have no problem with them. I respect their culture, and they should respect mine."

Leon, a resident of Tumbleweed Avenue who asked that his last name not be used, said "I never had no problems. This neighborhood is mixed, and everybody in these houses came before me. That could have happened to anybody. They's hoodlums, that's all."

At the Super Mercado del Pueblo, on Rancho Drive, Jim Murillo, the change person for the slots, reflected the fear of some residents. "You're Hispanic and you're walking down the street and a group of blacks sees you, they'll jump you," he said.

Police are looking for four men in their teens or 20s, wearing a combination of black and red clothing. Police believe the man who shot Zambrano-Lopez wore a red "doo-rag" on his head. Police found two baseball caps at the scene. One was a New York Yankees hat.

Anyone with information is asked to call Metro's homicide section at 229-3521 or Crime Stoppers at 385-5555.