MEDINA: U.S. authorities say they have arrested two members of the notorious MS13 street gang who are accused of executing a man in Virginia last month.
The U.S. Marshals Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force, with the assistance of Medina police, arrested Kevin Cruz, 22, and Carlos Cisneros, 21, around 6:50 p.m. Thursday following a traffic stop.
They were wanted by the U.S. Marshals Service and the Prince William County authorities for complicity to commit murder.
Authorities have accused eight gang members of shooting Edwin Ivan Chicas, 22, several times and slicing him up with a machete on Oct. 29 in Manassas, Va. The Washington Post reported that Chicas was shot after a disagreement with some of those charged.
Six men and women, and a juvenile, were arrested Wednesday in Virginia. That day, the Prince William County Sheriff’s Office requested the assistance of the U.S. Marshal led Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force to find and arrest the last two.
The task force determined they were staying at an apartment near the 300 block of Springbrook Drive in Medina.
Authorities said they set up surveillance around the apartment complex and stopped Cruz and Cisneros without incident when they left in a vehicle.
It was unclear why they were in Medina.
“That’s just where they picked to go hide out,” a U.S. Marshals Service spokesman said. “We have no idea why they chose Medina.”
A sheriff’s official in Prince William also didn’t know why.
Both were taken to the Medina County Jail where they will await extradition to Virginia.
“These extremely violent gang members tried to hide from there heinous crime,” U.S. Marshal Pete Elliott said in a prepared statement. “Due to the cooperation of our task force, the Medina Police Department and the Capital Area Task Force, these dangerous men are behind bars.”