He killed two Durham teens in 2023. Here’s how long he’ll spend in prison.
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- Jorge Raul Benitez‑Mendoza pleaded guilty to two 2023 murders Thursday.
- The victims were two teenagers found near Brogden Middle School after the March 2023 shooting.
- A judge sentenced Benitez-Mendoza to at least 32 year sin prison and ordered substance abuse and mental health treatment.
A Durham man pleaded guilty Thursday to multiple charges in the 2023 shooting deaths of two local high school students.
Jorge Raul Benitez-Mendoza, now 21, was a Riverside High School student when he fatally shot Angel Canales and Osmar Banegas, both 16, The News & Observer previously reported. Canales was a freshman at Riverside High School, while Banegas was a former Riverside football player who had transferred to Lakeview School.
The two teens were found dead near Brogden Middle School in March 2023, police said. A third 16-year-old student was also injured in the shooting, which officers learned of after his parents took him to the hospital, according to The N&O’s prior reporting.
The bodies of Banegas and Canales were discovered in woods the next morning after police deployed a drone and cadaver dog. Canales’ aunt told The N&O at the time that her nephew had been killed by gangs, though police never publicly commented on a motive in the shootings.
The surviving victim told detectives he’d gone with Banegas and Canales to buy a handgun after one of the boys had been in a fight earlier that day, according to a report from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
“The victim indicated that the suspect began shooting at all three victims and that the victim from the hospital had run away,” the report states.
Six 9 mm casings were found at the scene, and it was family members who discovered Banegas and Canales dead at the edge of a creek bed that morning, according to the report.
Banegas had been shot four times, while Canales had been shot twice, their autopsy reports state.
Benitez-Mendoza was arrested the day after the killings. At the time, he also had pending charges of robbery with a deadly weapon and conspiracy to commit robbery with a deadly weapon after he had allegedly stolen an iPhone from a woman at gunpoint several weeks before the shooting, court records show.
Benitez-Mendoza pleaded guilty Thursday to two counts of murder and one count each of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, according to court records.
Superior Court Judge Shamieka Rhinehart sentenced Benitez-Mendoza to a minimum of 32 years and a maximum of 40 years and six months in prison, court documents show. As part of his sentence, he’ll be required to receive substance abuse and mental health assessments and comply with any recommended treatment.
This story was originally published October 10, 2025 at 11:16 AM with the headline "He killed two Durham teens in 2023. Here’s how long he’ll spend in prison.."
