MS-13 Gang in D.C. area?

[Metellus]

I'm posting this as a FYI since a lot of people on this forum seem to be from the D.C. metro area. There is no other reason for the post. But I would like to hear from others who may have run into this gang.

I think the scary thing about this gang is that unlike inner city gangs they tend to operate in the suburbs of D.C. such as Herndon, Falls Church, and Silver Spring.

I'm glad they caught some of these bastards. I got my CCW after I was jumped by MS-13 in NW D.C. near Bethesda, MD at the Tenley Town Metro station for a gang initiation. Stupid punk being initiated was like 14 years old and demanded my money. After I struggled with him (since I am a former grappler and kickboxer he was easy to take out) I was jumped by his much bigger friends and they held a knife to my throat. Then I realized there were like a dozen of them standing around watching. I had a good enough look at these guys to see their tats on their chest and neck such as MS and Sureno. Pretty much having a knife to my throat and having them scream at me that they were going to kill me changed my view about having a handgun pretty quick. I've shot for fun but never carried in the past. This was the incident where people who didn't want to get involved walked past and didn't bother to call the cops. It was only after a very large group of people started walking up did they leave. Unfortunately my VA CCW (really a CHP) doesn't work in D.C. or MD and it is near impossible to get a CCW in D.C. or MD!

Not saying to be afraid of all day laborers hanging around the local 7 eleven or the pack of hard working young hispanic males walking on the side of the road but if you live in the D.C. area chances are the tatooted versions are gang members.

Sad part are the mistaken rival gang members.

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Man's Fingers Severed In Va. Machete Attack
Gang Suspected in Multiplex Incident
By Tom Jackman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 5, 2005; Page B02


A Fairfax man walking from a Merrifield movie theater was attacked late Monday by several men -- one of them wielding a machete -- and in the flurry of blows, three fingers were severed from the victim's left hand, police said yesterday.

The attack was similar to one in the Alexandria area in May, in which a teenager lost four fingers in a machete onslaught. Police believe that the assailants in both cases were members of the street gang Mara Salvatrucha. Three men have pleaded guilty in the first case; the assailants in Monday night's attack remain at large.

Fairfax County police said they were not certain whether the victim in the assault near the Lee Highway Multiplex Cinemas also was a gang member. Latino gangs in Northern Virginia mostly have attacked only rival gang members, often after spontaneous encounters involving disrespect toward the other gang. Police said words were exchanged before Monday's attack.

The 24-year-old victim was taken to Inova Fairfax Hospital after the 11:50 p.m. incident, and police said he was in surgery late yesterday as doctors tried to reattach his fingers. His injuries were not life-threatening.

On May 13, three admitted members of Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, were insulted by members and associates of the South Side Locos near a 7-Eleven on Edsall Road. The MS-13 members then grabbed machetes from a nearby apartment and chased their rivals, catching one 16-year-old and hacking him in the head, back and hands.

Two of the three MS-13 members involved have been sentenced to 15 years in prison; a third is awaiting sentencing.

The neighborhood where Monday's machete assault occurred, near Gallows Road and Lee Highway, is largely commercial, and business owners said yesterday that they had little or no experience with gang-related crime. Some were unaware of the attack, which had happened just steps away.

Police said the victim and a 21-year-old woman were walking along Strawberry Lane, a short street between Gallows Road and the movie theater. A car pulled alongside them.

The man and the car's occupants spoke briefly, and then three or four men climbed out of the car. The couple ran back toward the theater, police said, and the assailants caught the man while the woman escaped and hid.

The attackers rained blows on the man, and one wielding a machete hit him in the back, head and hands, Officer Bud Walker said. Police believe that the man's fingers were severed while he tried to ward off the machete strikes. The woman was not hurt.

The assailants climbed into a car and left. The only description the victim was able to give was of three or four Latino men ages 18 to 25. He was not able to describe the car.

Nearby business leaders were shocked by the attack.

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MS-13 Man Sentenced to 3 Life Terms
Fairfax Woman Suffered Fatal Kick After Gang Rape
By Tom Jackman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, February 5, 2005; Page B01


A member of the Salvadoran street gang Mara Salvatrucha was sentenced yesterday in Fairfax County to three consecutive life terms for the 2001 rape and killing of a Falls Church area woman, making him the third local member of the gang to receive a life term for murder.

Oscar Omar Ramos Hernandez, 26, sat quietly during the brief hearing and declined to speak when Fairfax Circuit Court Judge Kathleen H. MacKay offered him the opportunity before the sentence was imposed. A large "MS" tattoo was spread across the back of his shaved head, indicating his allegiance to Mara Salvatrucha, and investigators said his back also has MS tattoos.

Hernandez pleaded guilty in December to charges of capital murder, rape and abduction with intent to defile in the death of Diana Garcia. As part of a plea agreement, prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty.

Garcia was the mother of a 2-year-old girl who has moved to Belize to live with Garcia's mother.

Eleven Northern Virginia residents have been slain in gang-related incidents since July 2000. Nine of those are believed to have been committed by members of Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13. Seven of the 11 victims are thought to have been gang members. But Garcia was not among them.

Hernandez was one of three MS-13 members who were hanging around a 7-Eleven store on Patrick Henry Drive when they spotted Garcia walking home alone about 2 a.m. on Aug. 13, 2001.

According to police testimony and court documents, Hernandez told police that he, Omar Guzman and the third man had drunk 48 beers in the hours before encountering Garcia. "We were very drunk," Hernandez told Fairfax Sgt. Richard J. Perez, according to court documents.

The three men followed Garcia as she walked toward her apartment. Hernandez said one of the others claimed that Garcia was a rival gang member, or a chavala. According to a transcript of Perez's interview with Hernandez, Hernandez explained the duty to fight, hurt or even kill felt by members of MS-13 when they encounter rival gang members.

"We grabbed her because of that," Hernandez said. "Otherwise I would not have done anything."

Garcia was not in any gang. She was a waitress at a nearby restaurant.

Hernandez said he and the other men dragged Garcia behind her apartment building and raped her. They then asked Garcia if she was going to call police. Garcia said she was.

Hernandez then kicked Garcia in the neck, he said. "I only kicked her, and that was all," Hernandez said. "I never thought of killing her."

The blow ruptured an artery. Her body was discovered later that morning by a passerby.

In 2002, Hernandez fled to Georgia. He was arrested there, told immigration authorities that he was Mexican and was deported to Mexico. He soon returned to the United States through Texas, where he was arrested for robbery and convicted.

He was extradited to Virginia in April after serving his Texas sentence. On the flight back, Perez interviewed him about Garcia's killing and life in a gang.

Hernandez told Perez that he was born in El Salvador and was "jumped in," or initiated, into the gang at age 13. He said he participated in a machete killing there when he was 16 and moved to the United States when he was 22.

"You never think when you are young," Hernandez told Perez, "in this stuff, that you will be caught. . . . It felt very good, going around, having a good time, you know?"

Regarding Garcia's killing, Hernandez blamed the alcohol as much as the gang. "It is just that when you are drunk," Hernandez said, "things enter your mind, that you can do some kind of stupidity."

Guzman pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, rape and abduction in October 2003 and is awaiting sentencing. The third participant remains at large.

Hernandez is the first MS-13 member to be sentenced to life in prison in state court. Two other members, Denis Rivera, 20, and Noe David Ramirez-Guardado, 22, were sentenced in federal court to life in the September 2001 slaying of Joaquim Diaz on Daingerfield Island, federal land near Alexandria.

[CarlosDJackal]

After I struggled with him (since I am a former grappler and kickboxer he was easy to take out) I was jumped by his much bigger friends and they held a knife to my throat. Then I realized there were like a dozen of them standing around watching.

Glad you came out of this relatively unscathe. I always tell students to remember the PLUS 2 rule (as you have found out firsthand).

There was a recent article in Police Magazine about the MS-13s. These types of people are the reason I carry a gun as well. I'd rather have it and not need it. Than need it, and not have it.

[Derius_T]

There is relatively no gang activity here in redneck area, usa where I live. We are all just good 'ol boys, with guns, who hunt, fish, ect. Most have done outdoor activities all their lives and grew up around guns of some sort.
The only problems around here are drunken bar brawls on saturday night.

I know if I were ever faced with that situation, and assaulted by one, and surrounded by many, who would also attack, I have no doubt as to the life threatening part of the situation, and would defend my life as hard as I could, ANY way I could.....

[chris in va]

My friend works at a local hotel and has a LEO detail from 12-4am, so she gets first-hand information. Apparently Fairfax is cracking down on MS-13 but unfortunately they've moved out to Prince William where I live.

I wasn't interested in carrying until I heard stories such as yours. PWC has been pretty much taken over by the hispanic in the past 3 years, and I'm looking to move out.

Oh, and thank God the powers that be feel that the average law-abiding citizen doesn't need CCW in the DC area...I mean, Murder Capitol of the Nation. :barf:

Also, I understand MS-13 is targeting police officers as well.

[1BadF350]

Yep, theyre here in Maryland too. I remember a story from last year or so about the 16 year old kid that had both hands chopped off by a gang member with a machete? This was in Virginia.

[Metellus]

I'm glad they are moving out of Fairfax cause that's where I was born, raised, and after moving about the country came back to live. It also happens the house the NRA HQ. Unfortunately, Fairfax takes a very dim view of CCW.

[chris in va]

Metellus, Prince William County Schools had scheduled a 'town meeting' of sorts about MS-13 and related gangs today at a high school on Neabsco road (not sure the name) but they rescheduled due to the snow. The contact is Chad Abate, i've been informed.

I think their website may give more details.

[Duxman]

Saw a news report last night on NBC 4 that the MS13 gang is targeting police officers during routine traffic stops and "faking" 911 calls so they can ambush them.

One such incident occured yesterday when a traffic stop, the driver told the passenger to shoot the cop in Spanish, unfortunately for the gang, the LEO understood enough to get back into cover and draw his weapon.

Kudos to the professionalism of the LEO's in this area.

[CyberSEAL]

I know this is an old thread, but I've been having so much fun reading through the old posts here and I just had to chime in on this one. If you live in the Washington DC area, and are a CCW permit holder, do some research on MS13. Learn to spot them and be mentally prepared to open fire if accosted by any of them. A routine mugging with these losers can quickly turn into much worse.

[timothy75]

My God targeting cops! If I lived in the area I'd carry an AR15 in my truck and a very high capacity pistol on my person!

[Coop de Ville]

I'm glad I carry a gun in DC

Then again, I don't like being targeted.....

Best -Coop

[USP45usp]

Yes, I've noticed here in the West that the MS-13 gangs are really bad in California (where CCW is hard/impossible to obtain). They have been in Oregon, usually just to set up meth labs, and are trying to move into Portland. They tried to move into Medford, K-Falls and had some presense in Eugene but that got nicked in the bud due to these areas still believe in gun ownership and in carrying.

When you read the papers in these areas where one of them (or multiple of them) have been shot and killed, they are always written in as "undocumented aliens" or Hispanic/Salvadorian nationals but when they have the pictures you can clearly see the gang insignia (tats).

They have been known to spread quite quickly in areas that curtail or ban the average joe from carrying a gun (D.C., California, MD, NJ, Etc.). The reason that they target cops (from what I've researched) is that they know who the cops are (uniforms, gun visible) and they know that the cops will chase them (car/foot) so it's easy to set up ambushes. You normal "joe" won't chase (car/foot).

As for areas that allow you to have some form of your right to keep and bear arms, they don't know who is armed so they will attack lone individuals or if they want a group will watch (stake out) the group carefully to see any indication of someone having a gun (the things that people do like shift, touch, etc..).

Since they seem to prefer "up close and personal" and use the machete instead of the gun they know that anyone that may be armed is either the first target or to wait until that person leaves. In areas that don't have allowable gun carry they just hit and run.

There are also reports here in the West that the MS-13 gangs in California are helping the terrorist to smuggle guns/bombs/drugs and especially WMD type materials across the border.

If politicians were smart (which they aren't) they would allow "open season" on ANYONE that has gang affliations by the LEO's and by the Citizens. You see any tats that are gang related, whether it's a wannabe or a true gang member then BANG, bag em and tag em and get a reward from the government (let's say, $500 per).

I don't care what people say about their rights (the gang members) or why they are in a gang, there is a war being waged by the gangs against the People and the governments are trying our hands and allowing us to become victems to the enemy.

I don't know whose worse sometimes, the gangs or the government(s).

Wayne