What started as a late-night hit-and-run in a Raleigh nightclub parking lot has ended with one man dead and two others headed to prison for years.
Francisco Camacho-Lopez, 30, was shot in the early morning hours of August 6, 2023, at an apartment complex on Peyton Street. Nearly three years later, on June 15, 2026, Jorge Arroyo-Zabaleta was sentenced to at least eight years and eight months in prison for his role in the killing. His co-defendant, Kennedy Basaves Gonzalez, had already pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and is serving a much longer term.
The shooting and arrests
The violence unfolded around 4:15 a.m. on the 500 block of Peyton Street. Raleigh police found Camacho-Lopez with multiple gunshot wounds, and he was later pronounced dead. In the days that followed, officers arrested two men in connection with the killing, as reported by ABC11. Local Spanish-language outlets also reported on the initial arrests and the identification of the suspects, tracking a case that investigators say began with what should have been a minor traffic scrape outside a nightclub.
How the parking-lot scuffle escalated
Prosecutors say the confrontation grew out of a hit-and-run involving a white work van and Gonzalez’s hatchback outside a club. The van struck the hatchback, then left the scene, according to investigators. The group later drove to the Peyton Street apartment complex, looking to confront a man they believed had been behind the wheel.
Surveillance video captured the men arguing in Spanish before Kennedy Basaves Gonzalez allegedly opened fire, hitting Camacho-Lopez several times. Court filings state that after Camacho-Lopez was on the ground, Arroyo-Zabaleta admitted taking a handgun that belonged to the victim. Those details, along with the underlying investigative records, are laid out in reporting by The News & Observer.
Sentences and courtroom moments
At a Wake County hearing, Arroyo-Zabaleta, 28, pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact of murder and possession of a firearm by a felon. He received a sentence with a minimum of eight years and eight months in prison. With credit for time already served in jail, his effective minimum could be cut to roughly six years, according to The News & Observer.
Gonzalez pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in February and was sentenced to a prison term with a minimum of 18 years and a maximum of 22 years and eight months. With his time served factored in, that minimum could drop to about 15 and a half years.
In court, Camacho-Lopez’s sister read a victim-impact statement, speaking in Spanish through an interpreter. “I just wanted to say that my brother did not deserve to die like this,” she told the court. Superior Court Judge Jennifer Bedford returned family photos of Camacho-Lopez and offered what she called the court’s “deepest condolences” to his relatives seated in the gallery.
Legal complexities
Court records show that Arroyo-Zabaleta had prior felony convictions that qualified him for habitual-felon status, which can increase sentencing ranges under North Carolina law. State statutes on habitual felons explain how prior convictions can boost a defendant into a higher class of punishment and allow judges to apply an aggravated range in some cases. Judge Bedford cited those provisions in handing down Arroyo-Zabaleta’s longer term. The relevant rules are set out in N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-7.6.
What it leaves behind
The case underscores how a small crash in a crowded parking lot can spiral into lethal violence and years of courtroom maneuvering. For Camacho-Lopez’s family, the guilty pleas and sentences provide legal closure, but not anything close to repair. Their loss, and the long prison stretches now facing Gonzalez and Arroyo-Zabaleta, stand as a stark reminder of how fast tempers, fear, and a gun can turn a minor dispute into a homicide.
