Washington DC

Man Pleads Guilty to Killing of DC Construction Worker During Robbery

The victim, Elías Flores, 48, was a father who owned his own company and had lived in the D.C. area for more than 20 years. He was originally from El Salvador, his family said.

A Maryland man pleaded guilty Monday to the 2020 killing of a construction worker during a robbery at a job site in Washington, D.C., federal prosecutors said.

George Miller, 27, of Capitol Heights, pleaded guilty to the second-degree murder of Elías Flores, 48. Miller is set to be sentenced in June.

Flores died on Nov. 23, 2020, five days after he was shot in the head at a job site in the 1600 block of Olive Street NE.

Authorities said Miller entered the home under construction, brandished a gun and took property from the house before shooting Flores. He then fled the scene on an electric bike share, they said.

Flores was a father who owned his own company and had lived in the D.C. area for more than 20 years. He was originally from El Salvador, his family said.

Days after the murder, one of the workers who was with Flores at the time of the robbery described to Telemundo 44 the terrifying moments they experienced.

“I went down and I step on the second rung. I raise my head and I see [Miller], he had a gun and he moved it like this… [W]hen he heard that I stepped on the last rung, he made a sign towards me with the gun,” the worker said. “Then, he moved again and that’s when he placed the gun inside [Flores’] mouth and pulled the trigger.”

The worker said Flores “didn’t move, he didn’t make a sound, he fell and then [Miller] got on top of him while pointing his gun at me and took his wallet out.”

The Capital Area Fugitive Regional Task Force arrested Miller on Dec. 9, 2020, a few weeks after the homicide. He was charged with first-degree murder and has been in custody ever since.

Flores was a good man who dreamed of returning to El Salvador once he retired, his brother, José Flores, told T44.

"My brother was a very hard-working person, very humble too," he said. "He was a construction worker who worked every day for the well-being of his family and was an excellent father, son, brother and nephew. He was a person who wasn’t hurting anyone. He dedicated himself to his family, and on that tragic day someone took his life.”

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