Victim: 19-year-old Willians Anderson Alberto Cruz / Photo courtesy MCSAO
An MS-13 gang member was sentenced to life in prison plus 40 years for a 2022 fatal shooting in Silver Spring.
Elvin Guzman-Machado, 20, of Boyds, was sentenced Friday, according to the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office (MCSAO).
He was found guilty last year of first-degree murder, three counts of attempted first-degree murder, and other charges for fatally shooting 19-year-old Willians Anderson Alberto Cruz and for injuring two other victims.
According to MCSAO, it was the first time in Montgomery County that someone was convicted of participation in a criminal organization resulting in death.
The shooting happened in Nov. 2022 in Silver Spring on Colony Road, which is near New Hampshire Avenue. The victims were standing around a car while listening to music in a parking lot when two other defendants opened fire on them after they were convinced that the group defaced nearby gang graffiti, per MCSAO. Three weeks ago, those two defendants were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus three additional life sentences and 105 years.
According to MCSAO, Guzman-Machado and another defendant waited in the get-away vehicle when the shooting occurred.
There were four total defendants in the shooting. Police validated the four as members of MS-13, according to MCSAO.
County State’s Attorney John McCarthy previously said that the victims and defendants did not know each other.
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