Alleged Gang Members Arrested in 2 Silver Spring Homicides

The deaths of two men just hours apart in Silver Spring, Maryland, in November are both gang related, prosecutors say.

Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said a planned gang execution took place about 6 p.m. Nov. 9 in a ravine behind an apartment complex on Piney Branch Road.

“The reason that we are now talking about it is we’ve been looking for five individuals who we were told led two men who were MS-13 into the woods to basically sanction them, to punish them for having stolen from the gang,” McCarthy said. “Their means of sanctioning them was to execute them. One played dead and survived, and the other was deceased.”

Edvin Moises Agustin Leon, 20, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Six people were arrested in that homicide. The last suspect was arrested last week.

Earlier that day, Williams Alberto Cruz was shot and killed nearby on Colony Road. McCarthy said that shooting was gang related as well, but the motive is unclear.

“That was, again, another shooting involving MS-13,” he said.

McCarthy said gang activity in the county concerns him, but what’s really on his mind is the escalation of violence involving young people.

“I am here to unequivocally say there is an increased presence of guns in our community,” he said. “I continue to be concerned about guns in our community.”