18-year-old accused of killing two Durham teens makes first court appearance. What we know.

Hours after his arrest, the 18-year-old accused of murder in the shooting deaths of two Durham teenagers made his first appearance in court.

Jorge Raul Benitez-Mendoza, 18, of Durham, appeared via Zoom Thursday morning before Judge Clayton Jones on two counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.

Although the prosecution stated he has no prior criminal record, Mendoza was denied bail due to the severity of the charges.

He will appear in court again on April 13 for a probable cause hearing and will be represented by the public defender’s office.

Mendoza is a student at Riverside High School in Durham, according to the prosecution, and works part-time at a local Walmart.

Mendoza’s stepsister was in court Thursday but declined to comment, citing concerns for her safety.

Mendoza’s arrest came almost 24 hours after the Durham community learned three teens had been involved in a deadly shooting near Brogden Middle School.

Angel Canales and Osmar Banegas, both 16, were killed. The third shooting victim, another 16-year-old boy, was taken to the hospital in critical condition. Police have not identified him.

Police respond to shooting near a middle school

Shortly after 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, police responded to a call about a 16-year-old boy who had been shot. His parents took him to a local hospital, where police said Wednesday he was in stable condition with life-threatening injuries.

The teen said two others might have been shot, so officials deployed a drone and a cadaver dog overnight. Shortly after 8 a.m. Wednesday, police found the bodies of two 16-year-old boys near the intersection, which is north of Interstate 85.

The shootings do not appear to be a random act, police said.

Police did not provide additional details, including whether Mendoza knew the three teens who were shot.

Durham police spokeswoman Crystal Price said Police Chief Patrice Andrews wasn’t available for comment when contacted by The News & Observer on Wednesday.

One teen a former Riverside football player

On Wednesday, Durham Public Schools confirmed that the two teens were Canales and Banegas.

Canales, the son of Honduran immigrants, was a freshman at Riverside High School. He left home Tuesday evening to visit his girlfriend, according to family members.

“His dad went to bed and saw he didn’t come home. His aunt called him to tell him (police) found him,” said Jasmin Gonzalez, who is Canales’ cousin.

Gonzalez joined about a dozen family members and friends near the site by apartment complexes where the boys were found.

Canales, whose family immigrated from Honduras, leaves behind a big family, Gonzalez said.

Banegas was a freshman at Lakeview School, an alternative school in the Durham system.

Before transferring to Lakeview, Banegas attended Riverside, where he played football during the 2021 season.

“He was a freshman... a really, really great personality always smiling, always laughing,” Cory Lea, Banegas’ coach at Riverside, said in a phone interview with The N&O. “And also willing to learn. He worked really hard for somebody (to whom) the sport was new. We’re going to miss him in our football family.”

Banegas played between the junior varsity and varsity teams, but didn’t return for the 2022 season.

His move to Lakeview had been recent, Lea said.

City response to gun violence

On Wednesday, Mayor Pro Tem Mark-Anthony Middleton addressed the ongoing problem of violence against young people in Durham.

“In my time as a public official, I have received many reports and briefings about troubling things,” he said. “But today I don’t think I have ever felt more devastated and sickened by what our city has learned about the death of these babies. There can be no full-throated, enthusiastic celebration of the greatness of Durham until the most vulnerable and powerless of our neighbors are safe. Who are more vulnerable than our children? This is a heartbreakingly dark day for our city. Our love and our city’s heartbeat belongs to the families of those children.”

Durham City Council member Javiera Caballero addressed the shooting in English and Spanish at the start of Thursday’s work session in City Hall.

“This violence has rocked our community, but in particular, it is being felt within our Latino community,” she said. “All four of these lives — the victims and the suspect — and their families lives are irrevocably damaged, and I want to lift them up.”

Caballero spoke about her own children, one of whom is a student at Brogden Middle, the school that was put on secure status when the victims were found.

“I know I cried when each one of my kids made it through the door, knowing that doesn’t always happen in this city for lots of different reasons, and it is a parent’s worst nightmare,” she said.

As of March 18, there were 11 homicides, 10 of them fatal shootings, so far this year.

READ MORE: Gun violence is a growing cause of death for children in NC, task force study finds

That compares to six fatal shootings and seven fatal shootings by the same date in the previous two years, according to police statistics.

Aaron Sánchez-Guerra and Mary Helen Moore contributed to this story.

Police are asking anyone with possible information to call Investigator J.D. Harris at 919-560-4440 ext. 29120 or CrimeStoppers at 919-683-1200. CrimeStoppers pays cash rewards of up to $2,000 for information leading to arrests in felony cases, and callers never have to identify themselves.