Germantown Teen Murders: Three Suspects Indicted

MONTGOMERY VILLAGE, MD — The three men accused of killing two Northwest High School students one night before they were set to graduate have all been formally indicted and had court hearings scheduled for Friday, according to court records. The two students — Shadi Adi Najjar, 17, of Breezedale Lane in Germantown, and Artem S. Ziberov, 18, of Flag Harbor Drive in Germantown — were gunned down and shot in the head while sitting in a car in Montgomery Village June 5, police said.

Edgar Garcia-Gaona, 24, of Gaithersburg; his brother, Roger Garcia, 19, of Germantown; and Jose Ovilson Canales-Yanez, 25, of Gaithersburg were arrested and charged June 17 with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, according to Maryland online court records.

The three men made their first appearance in court via a live feed video from the detention center last month, where Judge John Moffett set no bond and called the incident "brutal" and noted there was a "degree of overkill," according to Montgomery Community Media.

Najjar's parents sat in the front row of the courtroom, with a framed photograph of their son in front of them, during the arraignment. Prosecutors have said the victims went to meet with the suspects believing that they wanted to buy graduation tickets.

See Related:

• Germantown Murders: Father Says Lies Spread About Dead Son, Denies Theft As Motive
• Candlelight Vigil Planned For Slain Germantown Teens
• Germantown Teen Murders: Police Need Help Finding Suspects
• 2 Germantown Teens Shot Night Before Graduation: Update

Montgomery County Police said leads from the public helped detectives find the murder suspects and link the theft of drugs and an iPad from the girlfriend of one of the accused to one of the dead students.

Investigators believe the shootings were retaliation for Najjar’s robbery of Kara Yanez, who was the girlfriend and may now be married to suspect Jose Canales-Yanez. It's unknown if there was a motive for killing Ziberov, or if his death was incidental to the killing of Najjarj, police say.

Naijar's father, Adi Najjar, denounced the insinuation that his son would steal, saying his son had been given everything and was a sweet boy. The elder Najjar says his son was killed because the teen refused to join the gang that killed him. He also said the accusation that Shadi stole an iPad from a woman involved with one of the suspect "a lie."

A friend of Najjar’s told detectives that in December or January, Najjar had stolen drugs from a woman during a drug transaction. Just before his death, Najjar told the friend he was planning to sell a graduation ticket to Roger Garcia. That was the last communication from Najjar before his death; it happened about half an hour before he died from multiple gunshot wounds.

Detectives learned that Roger Garcia’s brother, Edgar Garcia-Gaona, was shot on Feb. 10, 2017, during a botched drug deal, also in Montgomery Village. Garcia-Gaona was reported to have been carrying a weapon and exchanged gunshots with his assailants.

Kara Yanez is believed to be the victim of the rumored drug-related robbery committed by Najjar, police say. In a report filed by Yanez on Dec. 14, 2016, Yanez said she was approached by a blue Honda Civic while she was walking, and a front-seat passenger grabbed her Apple iPad. She was dragged by the car about 50 feet.

Shooting Details, Parent Reaction

At 10:46 p.m. June 5, 911 dispatchers received a call from a resident reporting the sounds of shots fired in the 8200 block of Gallery Court. When police officers arrived they found the two males inside a vehicle that was parked on Gallery Court. Both victims appeared to be suffering from apparent gunshot wounds and died from their injuries at the scene.

Capt. Darren Francke said that police recovered 30 shell casings at the scene and have confirmed that multiple caliber of weapons were used. They believe there was more than one shooter in the incident, and they think there's a connection between at least one of the victims and the suspects.

Francke said one of the victims was shot ten times, and the other was shot four times. The other rounds hit their vehicle and also went into the air in the neighborhood.

“This is not a random event. We do believe that the suspects and the victims knew each other," Francke said. "More importantly, we believe there are people are out there that have not come forward yet and have not given us information that they know about this case. It may be something small or it may be something as big as they witnessed something. We need them to come forward.”

Francke also confirmed that the audio recording of the shooting, given to police by a neighbor on Galley Court, was authentic.
Here's more information from Monday's court hearing:

Photos: Montgomery County Police Department