Police: Teen armed with knife killed man armed with hockey stick
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Version 0 of 1. A 17-year-old, armed with a knife, killed a 20-year-old, armed with a hockey stick, during a fight that stemmed from a drug-related robbery in Montgomery County, according to arrest records filed in District Court on Friday. The youth, Elmer A. Galindo, was charged as an adult with first-degree murder in the death of Jose Santos Fuentes on Wednesday night at a Sunoco station in the Aspen Hill area, police said. Galindo was arrested shortly after the slaying by an officer who saw him running from the scene, followed him into an apartment building and found him armed with a knife and stained with blood, the arrest records state. An attorney for Galindo, Mike Rothman, said he intends to enter a plea of not guilty, but he declined to comment further at this early stage in the case. Rothman said Galindo’s relatives are reeling. “He’s got a great family that is shocked by the charges,” Rothman said. In the court records, police assert that on the day of the stabbing, Galindo agreed to meet an acquaintance of Fuentes’s “to complete a marijuana drug transaction.” The meeting took place at a swimming pool near the intersection of Georgia Avenue and Bel Pre Road. Galindo arrived with another man. But instead of buying drugs from the seller, the pair grabbed the man’s backpack, which held marijuana, an iPod and other items, police said. The robbery victim went home and told Fuentes and another man what had occurred, police said in arrest records. Fuentes armed himself with the hockey stick, and the trio went looking for the robbers, according to the documents, which go on to recount this sequence of events: Around 8:30 p.m., the two groups met at the Sunoco station along Georgia Avenue, several blocks south of where the robbery allegedly took place. The groups began arguing at the station’s front door, which at various times was opened, closed and locked by the participants. A witness called the police. At some point, the confrontation turned physical. Fuentes was stabbed, as was an acquaintance of his, before the other group fled. A plainclothes officer, among the police officers who arrived, was familiar enough with the area that he knew about a cut in a fence behind a nearby Kmart. The officer went there and saw a young man “running from the fence line at a high rate of speed,” according to charging documents. The officer followed him into the apartment building and up some stairs and saw a young man “breathing heavily and sweating profusely,” the documents state. The officer searched him, found the knife, and saw blood on his pants, the documents state. Police identified the suspect as Galindo. The teen was taken to a police station, where he told detectives that he stabbed one person at the Sunoco and possibly another, according to court papers. Both victims were taken to a hospital. Fuentes was pronounced dead. The other victim remained hospitalized Friday in serious condition. Galindo also has been charged with attempted murder in connection with that man’s injuries, police said. He was being held Friday without bond in the county jail, according to court records. Police asked anyone with information about the case to call 240-773-5070 or 1-866-411-TIPS (8477). Callers may remain anonymous, and a reward of up to $10,000 is available. |