A man accused of killing two Maryland teens the night before their high school graduation appeared in court Monday and waived his right to a bond hearing.
Rony Alexander Galicia, 25, of Germantown, is the fourth man to be arrested in the deaths of 17-year-old Shadi Adi Najjar and 18-year-old Artem Ziberov, Montgomery County police announced Friday.
Galicia has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
Najjar and Ziberov were found shot to death on June 5 in a blue Honda Civic in Montgomery Village, the night before they were supposed to graduate from Northwest High School.
Police said Galicia was arrested Friday after investigators determined his DNA was found at the crime scene.
"There is some new evidence, some DNA that was attached to a shell casing," said Ramon Korionoff of the Montgomery County State's Attorney's Office.
Three other suspects were arrested in June: Jose Canales-Yanez, 25, Roger Garcia, 19, and Edgar Garcia-Gaona, 24. They were each charged with two counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. Garcia and Garcia-Gaona are brothers, police said.
Ziberov's father, William Tewelow, said he doesn't want anyone involved in his son's death to get away with it.
"The lesser in our society decided to snuff his life out," he said.
Manger said Najjar had been shot four times and Ziberov 10 times. Amid the shattered window glass police found numerous shell casings, including some Glaser .40-caliber shells.
"We believe there were 30 rounds fired," he said.
Manger said investigators learned that Najjar was rumored to have committed a robbery in late 2016. They linked the rumor to a report filed by Canales-Yanez's then-girlfriend who told police on Dec. 14 that the passenger in a blue Honda Civic had grabbed her iPad and dragged her about 50 feet with the car. He said an informant told investigators Najjar was killed in revenge for that robbery.
He said an informant identified the three suspects to investigators.
He also said that just before Najjar died, he texted someone saying he was going to sell a graduation ticket to Roger Garcia, who was identified as a Northwest High School student.
"We're certainly working on the strong possibility that this was a ruse to get the two victims to that location," Manger said.
He said a partial box of Glaser .40-caliber ammunition was found at Garcia-Gaona's house. He also said the suspects took Najjar's cellphone.
He said the investigation is ongoing and said he hoped the release of the suspects' names would spur others with knowledge of the case to come forward.
"We think there's more information that folks out in the community have that can move us even further along with this case," he said.
"I am glad they caught them and I hope they rot in hell," Najjar's father, Adi Najjar, told News4 after news of the arrests.
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Ziberov was an Eagle Scout who planned to attend the University of Maryland.
"I put a lot of hope in him for his future," his father said. "In fact, I'd like to say I think Artem could've solved many of the world's problems when he grew up."
