Family of Mexican immigrant fatally shot by deputy at NC hospital asks for answers

This story has been updated to include comment from the Mexican Consulate in Raleigh.

The family of a Mexican immigrant who sought medical help at a Johnston County hospital wants to know how he ended up shot to death by a sheriff’s deputy hours later, several Mexican news outlets have reported.

On Wednesday, the State Bureau of Investigation identified the man killed as 24-year-old José Luis Rincón López.

It also identified the deputy as 32-year-old Jonathan Lee, who has worked for the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office since 2018, spokesperson Maj. Jeff Caldwell said.

The Sheriff’s Office said Monday that Rincón López had tried to take the deputy’s firearm outside the UNC Health Johnston hospital in Clayton.

But Rincón López’s family questions that account, Crónica de Xalapa, Golpe Político and La Opinion de Poza Rica reported this week. The three Mexican publications are based in Veracruz, where Rincón López’s family say he was originally from.

“Nuestra pregunta es ‘¿por qué?’ (Our question is ‘why?’),” José Rincón López’s sister Lizbeth Rincón López said in a video on Crónica de Xalapa’s Instagram account.

Ambulance called before shooting

Rincón López’s sister and mother, Griselda López Martinez, said he left for his construction job at about 3 a.m. Monday, but then felt ill and stopped at a gas station to call for an ambulance, La Opinion reported.

After telling his father he was in an emergency room, José Rincón López was never heard from again, they said.

Rincón López’s uncle, a migrant worker in North Carolina, was informed at about 1:30 p.m. that his nephew was dead, López Martinez said.

Rincón López had been in the U.S. for less than a year and a half.

His family members are asking for Veracruz and Mexican authorities to investigate his death and help repatriate Rincón López’s body, Crónica de Xalapa reported.

In a Thursday email, a spokesperson for the Mexican Consulate in Raleigh confirmed Rincón López is a Mexican national.

“The consulate offers guidance, advice, and support to facilitate the repatriation process and obtain necessary documentation, as it happens with any Mexican national that asks for this procedure,” the spokesperson wrote.

He added that the consulate has established communication with the State Bureau of Investigation and will wait for the results of its investigation into the shooting.

No body camera footage available

According to the Sheriff’s Office, the deputy was trying to leave the hospital parking lot at about 5:45 a.m. when the man confronted him and “attempted to gain control of the deputy’s firearm.”

“A struggle ensued into the parking lot where the deputy was able to regain control of his firearm, and shots were fired resulting in the death of the suspect,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a statement, The N&O previously reported.

The Sheriff’s Office has placed Lee on administrative leave with pay, which is standard procedure, and referred additional questions to the State Bureau of Investigation, which investigates shootings by law enforcement officers.

The office does not have in-vehicle or body-worn cameras, Caldwell told The N&O on Monday.