79-year-old California man was brutally beaten to death while delivering donations to impoverished families in Tijuana, Mexico.
Lazo frequently drove trucks packed with clothes, food, toys and other basic donations to Tijuana, about 125 miles (200km) from San Bernardino, then gave them to families in need.
“He was always a very generous person – helped anyone out,” Lazo’s son, Juan Carlos, told NBC Los Angeles.
Lazo’s family realized something was amiss when he didn’t return home from a donation run last month. Mexican authorities soon notified the family that he had been beaten to death and seemingly robbed of his truck as well as other belongings, none of which have been found.
Juan Carlos Lazo traveled to Mexico to identify his father’s body.
Rudy Lazo was beaten to death during an apparent robbery in mid-April, not long after the US state department warned Americans against traveling to Mexico because of an uptick in kidnappings and homicides in areas including Tijuana, his heartbroken son and daughter told NBC4 on Saturday.
“He was always a very generous person, helped anyone out,” said his son, Juan Carlos Lazo, told the outlet.
Rudy would often make the 3-hour trip from his home in San Bernadino to Tijuana to deliver food, clothing, toys and other necessities to those in need, his family said.
Juan Carlos traveled 125 miles from San Bernadino to Tijuana to identify his father’s body. He said his father had been brutally beaten to death, and that he believes he was killed during a robbery.
“He didn’t deserve it. Actually no, no human being deserves this,” Juan Carlos said. Juan Carlo Lazo also said: “He didn’t deserve this. Actually, no human being deserves this.”
Authorities have not announced any arrests.
Lazo’s children told reporters that helping families in Tijuana meant so much to their father that he had plans to try to build a community center there.
“He probably thought he wasn’t going to have problems because he was a senior citizen,” his daughter, Claudia Hernandez, told NBC.
The US state department advisory warning travelers to avoid Mexico came after a Los Angeles-area public defense attorney, Elliot Blair, died in suspicious circumstances while vacationing in Baja California.
