On December 21, 2024, at about 11:36 PM, 23-year-old Jose Rufino Melendez was fatally shot in the parking lot of the North Mountain Village Apartments at 9435 Diana Drive in northeast El Paso. The shooting happened during a physical altercation between two groups; Melendez tried to intervene and was struck by gunfire. He was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead.

The El Paso Police Department’s Crimes Against Persons unit is investigating. No arrests have been announced and the suspect or suspects remain unidentified. Melendez is survived by his father, Jose Rufino Melendez II; his mother, Rosie Betancourt; a brother, Robert Hernandez; and sisters Delilah Hernandez, Lana Rosales, and Rosie Marlyn Melendez. Visitation is scheduled for January 2, 2025, at Funeraria del Angel Restlawn Funeral Home in El Paso.

If anyone has information about the shooting, can you contact the El Paso Police Department at 915-832-4400 or Crime Stoppers of El Paso at 915-566-TIPS?