Man sentenced to life for 2022 MS-13 execution-style shooting in Montgomery County
Man sentenced to life for 2022 MS-13 execution-style shooting in Montgomery County
GAITHERSBURG, Md. (7News) — MS-13 gang member Edgard Castro-Contreras was sentenced to life in prison, plus an additional 52 years, on Monday for the 2022 shooting death of 20-year-old Edvin Agustin Leon in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
According to the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office, Agustin Leon and a second victim were targeted in a “gang-related” shooting as they walked into a wooded area of Northwest Stream Valley Park near the 9000 block of Piney Branch Road.
Agustin Leon was shot and killed, and the second victim was shot multiple times. That person survived by pretending to be dead, the State’s Attorney’s Office said. The second victim crawled through a quarter mile of park terrain, crying for help until neighbors called 911.
At an afternoon press conference on Tuesday, Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said he hopes the Hispanic community can find some comfort with the long sentence for the MS-13 gang member. McCarthy said, “ We know one thing about MS-13: they target their own. They target their own communities. And I will say to you that if you are a member of the Hispanic Latino community and you are being victimized or terrorized by MS-13, they have no safe harbor in Montgomery County. They have no safe harbor.”
A photo of 20-year-old Edvin Agustin Leon, who was killed in a gang-related shooting in Maryland in 2022. (State’s Attorney’s Office)
McCarthy described a gang that terrorized the Silver Spring community, but the chief of his gang prosecution unit says that may be changing.
Teresa Casafranca says the Trump administration’s crackdown on those in the country illegally is having an impact.
“ Yes, we’ve seen some sharp decrease in overt MS-13 activity,” says Casafranca, “this is a criminal organization that operates under the level, under the radar. But I would say that our law enforcement partners do believe that, at least for purposes of MS-13 overt criminal activity, it is down.”
The Montgomery County Police Department launched its investigation with help from the FBI and determined that the shooting was tied to the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) criminal gang. Authorities further discovered that two higher-ranking MS-13 gang members gave guns to three lower-ranked members and ordered them to kill Agustin Leon and the other victim.
The State believes that Castro-Contreras is the one who fired the shots that killed Agustin Leon.
A photo of Edgard Castro-Contreras, an MS-13 gang member sentenced to life in prison, for the 2022 shooting death of 20-year-old Edvin Agustin Leon in Gaithersburg, Maryland. (State’s Attorney’s Office)
On April 4, 2025, Castro-Contreras was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in Agustin Leon’s death, as well as attempted first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder for the shooting of a second victim, and two counts of use of a firearm in the commission of a crime of violence. His sentencing was handed down by Maryland Circuit Court Judge Theresa Chernosky.
One of the co-defendants, Sender Emanuel Godoy-Lemus, will head to a retrial on May 26, 2026, after the jury hung in his initial case.
Another co-defendant, Brayan Bonilla-Andrade, has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, and use of a firearm in the commission of a crime of violence. He faces the potential of two life sentences plus 20 years, and his sentencing hearing has not happened yet.
A photo of Brayan Bonilla-Andrade, one of the co-defendants in the shooting death of 20-year-old Edvin Agustin Leon in Gaithersburg, Maryland. (State’s Attorney’s Office)
Trials for two additional co-defendants, Jonathan Videz Martinez and Carlo Yaque Del Cid, are also heading to trial on first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, and related charges, scheduled for Feb. 27, 2026