MS-13 gang member sentenced for Silver Spring shooting that left 1 dead, 2 hurt
by: Odyssey Fields
Posted: Mar 24, 2026 / 11:38 AM EDT
Updated: Mar 24, 2026 / 11:38 AM EDT
SILVER SPRING, Md. (DC News Now) — A MS-13 gang member will sit in prison for more than seven decades for his connection with a deadly shooting in Silver Spring in 2022.
A Montgomery County judge handed down the 75-year sentence for Jonathan Leon-Chacon, 28, of Silver Spring, on March 20. The lengthy sentence came after Leon-Chacon pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder and other charges.
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On Nov. 9, 2022, four people were standing outside of a vehicle listening to music in a parking lot on Colony Road, when two people began shooting at them. The group tried to run, but 19-year-old Willians Anderson Alberto Cruz was shot and killed.
Two other victims were struck multiple times. They were taken to the hospital for treatment. The fourth victim was the only person to escape the gunfire without a gunshot wound.
In court, the state submitted a motive that the shooting was retribution for a defaced gang graffiti in the forest area, near the crime scene.
The Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office noted that Junior Del-Cid and Elmer Lopez-Cortez opened fire on the victims because they incorrectly believed that the group was responsible for defacing the graffiti.
During the shooting, Elvin Guzman-Machado and Jonathan Leon-Chacon waited in the getaway vehicle.
All four people convicted in this case were members of the MS-13 gang, according to officials.
“The victims in this case did not know the defendants,” said attorney McCarthy during a press conference in January. “This gang, this M3-13 clique, which lived in this particular neighborhood, had some graffiti that they put up to mark their territory, defaced by someone. Not these men. These men… ultimately became random targets.”