Air Force airman accused of murder after Raleigh nightclub shooting

Ed Crump Image
Monday, November 18, 2019
Neighbors nervous after nnightclub homicide
Neighbors nervous after nnightclub homicide

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- An Air Force airman has been arrested and charged with murder after a shooting at a Raleigh nightclub.

The shooting happened around 2:30 a.m. Saturday at Mambo 69 Nightclub on New Hope Road in Brentwood.

Jose Almando Blanco Colon, 21, was fatally injured in the shooting. He walked himself to WakeMed but later died. Police said Colon was from Massachusetts.

Raleigh Police Department arrested Marlon Xavier Cruz Gonzalez, 22, on a charge of murder.

Marlon Xavier Cruz Gonzalez
Raleigh Police Department

On Monday, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro identified Gonzalez as a Senior Airman stationed at the base.

The Air Force said it would work with local authorities to provide any information needed to help with the case.

Residents in a neighborhood across from the club were concerned about the violence.

"To be so close to our homes ... It's not a bad block. That's the only reason I moved here," said Decosta Alford.

Another neighbor said he wonders why the club is still allowed to operate.

"''When are they going to shut this place down?' is what I thought," Mowery said ."Because most clubs, they would shut them down after the second time, and this is like the third or the fourth time."

Alford said the club isn't necessarily the problem.

"It's not the club," he said. "It's the alcohol. It's the attitude. It's people, it's people in general who are not caring about another man's or woman's life today.

They're shooting, they don't care where it hits," Alford added. "They want it to hit who they are aiming at but if you are firing a gun, you're not promised it's going to hit that person ... anything can happen."