WASHINGTON — Three people were charged in the fatal shooting of man whose body was discovered in a wooded area in Montgomery Village, Maryland, Montgomery County police said Saturday.
Police said the shooting may have been gang related claimed that the suspects — a teenage boy among them — were associated with MS-13.
Luis F. Avelar Morales, 17, of Gaithersburg; Daniel Adonai Ramos, 19, Montgomery Village; and Juan Espinal Rapalo, 18, of Gaithersburg were charged with first-degree murder.
Police did not disclose details about a possible motive, aside from the alleged gang ties, stating that the circumstances leading up to the homicide were still under investigation.
On Nov. 2, a passerby made a macabre discovery — the body of Roberto Gutierrez Cruz, 22, of Montgomery Village — in a wooded area behind the 18200 block of Contour Road.
Cruz died from multiple gunshot wounds, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined. Police claim that Cruz and the alleged assailants were there in the woods the night before, when Cruz was likely shot.
Detectives have since recovered the murder weapon.
Police claim that Espinal Rapalo and Avelar Morales described being there when Cruz died.
Espinal Rapalo, who was arrested Wednesday, is being held without bail. Luis Morales, who was arrested Thursday, has a hearing scheduled for Monday.
Ramos was arrested Saturday and is still in police custody.
