18th Street gang member sentenced to life in prison for 2021 murder in Baltimore County

https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/08/14/18th-street-gang-member-sentence-baltimore-county/

A Baltimore County gang member will spend life in prison for a 2021 murder.

A jury convicted Hector Marroquin-Galdamez, 41, of first-degree murder in May over the killing of 30-year-old Orlando Carranza-Portillo.

Marroquin-Galdamez was arrested and indicted in August 2021, according to court records.

In a Baltimore bar in May 2021, Carranza-Portillo “created the impression” that he was in the MS-13 gang, according to a Wednesday news release from the Baltimore County State’s Attorney’s office. Marroquin-Galdamez and others in the same bar were members of a rival gang, 18th Street, according to the release.

Marroquin-Galdamez and four others followed the victim out of the bar, abducted him in the parking lot and took him to an area near Hammonds Ferry Road north of the Patapsco River, where he was robbed, stabbed and shot multiple times, according to the state’s attorney.

Marroquin-Galdamez was also convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, robbery with a deadly weapon and use of a firearm in a violent crime, according to court records. The state’s attorney’s office said one other man has been charged in relation to the murder and has a trial scheduled for December.

Baltimore County Circuit Court Judge Julie Glass sentenced him to life without the possibility of parole. Public defenders representing Marroquin-Galdamez did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday evening.

“Horrific acts of violence such as this must be and were addressed by Judge Glass in the completely appropriate sentence she imposed,” Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger said in the release. “It is tragic that this man lost his life so violently over a meaningless disagreement about perceived membership in a gang.”