Jose Armando Blanco Colon, 21, was shot and later died at WakeMed after walking into the hospital with a gunshot wound at about 3:05 a.m. on November 16, 2019. The shooting occurred earlier in the morning in the parking lot of the Mambo 69 Nightclub on New Hope Church Road in Raleigh. Officers were initially called to the nightclub around 2:15 a.m. after reports of gunfire but could not find a victim at the scene; the connection to the parking lot shooting was made when WakeMed notified police of the walk-in victim.

Arrests were made in connection with the case: Marlon Xavier Cruz Gonzalez, 22, was charged with murder, and Osmairin Rafealina Santana-Nunez, 20, was charged as an accessory after the fact. Investigators searched a townhome at Fieldcrest Crossing and temporarily evacuated eight nearby townhomes while the search took place; no one was home at the residence and the search did not immediately yield results. It is not clear whether Blanco Colon and the accused knew each other or what prompted the shooting.

Does anyone have information about that night or about Blanco Colon’s movements before he arrived at WakeMed?