Teen Charged As Accessory in Gang Shooting: Police

A Gaithersburg teen has been charged as an accessory in the murder of a man found shot to death in what Montgomery County Police say was a gang attack.

Edwin E. Reyes-Martinez, 18, of the unit block of Whetstone Drive in Gaithersburg was arrested Monday for his role in the Nov. 2 homicide of Roberto Gutierrez Cruz. Reyes-Martinez was a juvenile at the time of the murder, but has been charged as an adult with being an accessory after the fact to first-degree murder and possession of a handgun.

Three reputed MS-13 gang members were arrested in November on murder charges for the Nov. 2 homicide of Roberto Gutierrez Cruz. Investigators believe the homicide is gang related; they haven’t said what the motive might have been for the fatal shooting.

The suspects are Luis F. Avelar Morales, 17, of Girard Street in Gaithersburg; Daniel Adonai Ramos, 19, of Lost Knife Circle in Montgomery Village; and Juan Espinal Rapalo, 18, of Summit Avenue in Gaithersburg. All three have been charged with first-degree murder and the use of a firearm during the commission of a felony or crime of violence.

Avelar Morales was charged as an adult.

Police were called to the wooded area behind the 18200 block of Contour Road, where they found Cruz, 22, of Montgomery Village, dead on the ground.

Cruz’s death was ruled a homicide from multiple gunshot wounds.

Police say Reyes-Martinez was involved in concealing the gun after the murder.

Reyes-Martinez was taken to the Central Processing Unit and charged with one count of being an accessory after the fact to first-degree murder and one count of possession of a handgun. Bond information for Reyes-Martinez is not available at this time.