This article is from the source 'washpo' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/teen-charged-two-others-in-custody-in-death-of-man-found-in-alexandria-park/2016/01/13/76be6f40-ba10-11e5-829c-26ffb874a18d_story.html

The article has changed 2 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Gang connections suspected in two Alexandria killings Gang connections suspected in two Alexandria killings
(about 5 hours later)
Alexandria police have arrested and charged teenage suspects in connection with two incidents late last year in which young men were found slain in parks in the city, authorities announced Wednesday. Both incidents have some connection to gangs, authorities said. Police on Wednesday said they had arrested or otherwise taken into custody several MS-13 members they believe are linked to the slayings of two young men found dead in Alexandria parks — crimes that authorities said were a chilling reminder of the gang’s violent rise in the region.
Investigators believe the incidents are unconnected to each other, though they think one involved gang members and the other was explicitly motivated by gang activity. Crystal Nosal, an Alexandria police spokeswoman, declined to specify what gang was involved, saying she did not want to give any publicity to the group. Alexandria Police Chief Earl L. Cook said the incidents are not connected, and in only one case was the killing explicitly motivated by a desire to further MS-13 or its business. But he said detectives believe MS-13 members perpetrated both slayings, and that the incidents demonstrated a recent resurgence in the gang’s activity.
[Earlier: Man found dead in Beverley Park] “We have a tremendous problem right now with gang violence, and we’ve seen it increase tremendously,” Cook said. “And now it has visited the city of Alexandria, which only says none of us are immune from it.”
Police said a 17-year-old was charged with murder in the death of 24-year-old Jose Luis Ferman Perez, who was found slain by someone walking through Alexandria’s Beverley Park on Nov. 9, and two others were taken into custody but not formally charged. They said they had charged 18-year-old Edwin Alexander Guerrero Umana, of Arlington, in the death of 22-year-old Eduardo David Chandias Almendarez, who was found slain in Four Mile Run Park on Dec. 4. [In brutal killings, authorities see an attempt by MS-13 to rebuild]
Nosal said the killings are not believed to be connected. In both cases, details remain scant. The gang’s activity has hardly been a secret. The FBI in 2014 noted an uptick in violence, attributing it to an attempt by gang leaders in El Salvador to revive their U.S. operations and make more money.
Nosal declined to name the 17-year-old charged in Perez’s death or the others because the suspect was charged as a juvenile and the others had not been formally charged at all. She said investigators believed they had all the suspects in custody and those suspects had gang ties, though the crime was not explicitly motivated by gang activity. She declined to specify a precise motive. In October 2014, federal prosecutors in Alexandria unsealed an indictment against thirteen purported MS-13 members in relation to an attempted murder at a Prince William County School and with three killings across Northern Virginia. Authorities have said killings last year in Montgomery, Loudoun and Fairfax counties have been connected to members of the gang.
“This heinous crime shocked the community and made many people worry for their safety and the safety of their children,” Alexandria Police Chief Earl Cook said in a statement. “I am pleased to say that this challenging homicide investigation is drawing to a close.” [An MS-13 assassination plot is thwarted]
Almendarez’s slaying, Nosal said, was believed to be “gang motivated,” though she declined to say what sparked it. The two Alexandria killings represent half of the city’s four homicides in 2015. Although Cook said police had arrested suspects in both cases, few details were available Wednesday. Police officials said although most of the suspects were MS-13 members, the victims were not. They said none of the victims or suspects involved were thought to be in the United States legally.
Nosal declined to say how both victims died, although NBC4 reported that Perez’s throat had been cut and Almendarez was stabbed multiple times. Almendarez had been reported missing before he was found dead, authorities have said. Of his death, Cook said in a statement: “This homicide investigation continues, and the Alexandria Police Department is unwavering in its determination to arrest all responsible for this young man’s death.” Police said a 17-year-old was charged with murder in the death of 24-year-old Jose Luis Ferman Perez, whose body was found Nov. 9 by a person walking through Alexandria’s Beverley Park. The medical examiner’s office said Wednesday that he died of stab wounds to the head and neck.
Two others — an adult being held in a different state and a 16-year-old girl — were also taken into custody in Perez’s slaying, but their status was unclear Wednesday, police said. Alexandria police spokeswoman Crystal Nosal said that investigators were exploring the girl’s possible role in the incident, and the man could be charged with murder once he returns to Alexandria. She declined to name the 17-year-old because he was charged as a juvenile.
Cook said Perez’s killing was not motivated to further MS-13, although he declined to say what might have led to it. Police said the 17-year-old and the man were believed to be MS-13 members, and the 16-year-old girl was an MS-13 associate.
In the other case, police said they had charged Edwin Alexander Guerrero Umana, 18, of Arlington in the death of 22-year-old Eduardo David Chandias Almendarez, who was found slain Dec. 4 in Four Mile Run Park. The medical examiner’s office said he died of cuts to the head, neck, trunk and extremities.
Almendarez, whose name is also spelled “Almendares” on social-media accounts, was targeted, and his slaying is thought to be “gang-motivated” — carried out to advance the gang, police said. They declined to provide more details.
Efforts to reach family members of Almendarez, Umana and Perez were unsuccessful Wednesday.
Antonio Olivo and Jennifer Jenkins contributed to this report.