By Gangsters Inc. Editors
Five members of MS-13 received sentences of life imprisonment last week for their roles in the kidnapping and murder of two adolescent boys in 2016. The group stabbed and chopped the boys with knives, machetes, and a pickaxe. One killing was filmed as proof for bosses in the U.S. and El Salvador, where MS-13 has its base.
MS-13 gang members Elmer Zelaya Martinez, Ronald Herrera Contreras, Henry Zelaya Martinez, Pablo Velasco Barrera, and Duglas Ramirez Ferrera, along with their co-conspirators, targeted a 17-year-old resident of Falls Church, Virginia, who they erroneously suspected was a member of the rival 18th Street gang.
On the night of August 28, 2016, the gang lured the youngster to Holmes Run Stream Valley Park in Fairfax County under the pretense that there was going to be a gang meeting there. Instead, in a wooded area of the park, gang members restrained, attacked, and killed him, stabbing and chopping him more than 100 times with knives, a machete, and a pickaxe. Afterwards, the gang broke one of his legs so that his body would fit into the pre-dug hole that was nearby.
A second teenager chopped up
Court records and evidence presented at trial also established that the same gang members, along with their co-conspirators, targeted a 14-year-old resident of Alexandria, Virginia, who they wrongfully suspected was a police informant.
On the evening of September 26, 2016, the gang told the kid that there was going to be a gang meeting later that night and encouraged him to attend. Not long thereafter, he went outside in his pajamas, telling his mother he was just taking out the trash. Eventually, several gang members picked him up and drove him to the same park where they had killed the 17-year-old.
The gang members restrained, attacked, and killed the 14-year-old in much the same way as the other teenager, stabbing and chopping him with knives, machetes, and a pickaxe. They also filmed the murder with a cell phone so that they could prove to gang leaders in the United States and in El Salvador that they deserved to be promoted in rank. Once the teen was dead, the gang broke his legs and tied him up with his own pajama pants so that he would fit into the shallow grave that was dug for him that night.
“Words alone are incapable of describing the tragedy and senselessness that mark this case. Mere proximity to MS-13 and its twisted code cost two unassuming teenage boys their lives. In the wake of their appallingly violent murders lie wrecked families and fear-stricken communities,” said Jessica D. Aber, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “The sentences of life imprisonment imposed by the court are fitting; they will protect the public from these five defendants, send a message to other members and associates of MS-13 that there will be severe consequences for committing violent crimes in furtherance of their gang’s illicit activities, and provide a measure of justice for the victims and their families.”
To date, a total of 17 defendants have been charged in this case, five of whom went to trial and were convicted of all charges. Nine defendants pleaded guilty prior to trial.
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