HOUSTON, Texas — A Texas district attorney says MS-13 leaders in El Salvador are green-lighting hits by gang members in the U.S. Her comments came in reference to an MS-13 gang member arrested last week in Virginia on warrants relating to the murders of two Houston-area residents.
“The way they murder, machetes, shooting them dozens of times. It’s purposeful, and that’s to instill fear in the community,” Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg told reporters at a press conference about an MS-13 gang member accused of killing two people in the Houston area. “MS leaders giving the green lights for hits from El Salvador, well they can expect for us to return it in kind.”
Police in Virginia arrested Douglas Alexander Herrera-Hernandez on an outstanding warrant from Texas after the Department of Public Safety added him to their 10 Most Wanted list, Breitbart Texas reported. The first of two alleged murders occurred on June 13, 2016, in Missouri City, a suburb of Houston located in Fort Bend County. The second incident happened on July 9, 2017, in southeast Houston.
ICE officials confirmed to Breitbart Texas that the MS-13 illegal alien arrested over the weekend in Virginia for two alleged murders in Houston entered as an Unaccompanied Alien Child (UAC). Border Patrol agents released him under President Obama’s catch-and-release program, and he failed to appear for a removal hearing.
Herrera-Hernandez, aka “Terror,” a 20-year-old El Salvadoran, entered the U.S. in the Rio Grande Valley in December 2014. Records indicate he crossed the border at age 17. Border Patrol agents arrested him shortly after he crossed the border and released him with a “notice to appear” before an immigration judge. An immigration judge in Houston issued an order for removal to El Salvador for the alleged MS-13 gang member after he failed to appear for his hearing.
In June 2016, Herrera-Hernandez allegedly shot a 16-year-old boy who police say was providing confidential information about murders committed by the MS-13 gang. A turf war between MS-13 and the Southside Cholos led to multiple killings. KHOU reported the murders of six gang members during the conflict.
Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo told reporters, “We have to send a message when you take a life that brutally, especially that of a witness that has the courage to come forward, you’ve really forfeited your right, once you’ve been tried and convicted, to remain on this planet Earth as far as I’m concerned.”
Police say the 16-year-old informant provided valuable information on the murders committed by MS-13 in the Houston area before Herrera-Hernandez allegedly shot him 27 times in a park in Missouri City, Texas, a Houston suburb located in Fort Bend County.
The illegal alien MS-13 gang member also stands accused of murdering 26-year-old Kevin Alvarez in southeast Houston on July 9. Officers found Alvarez when responding to a shots fired call. He received multiple gunshot wounds and later died from his injuries.
After being identified by police as the shooter in this second alleged murder, DPS officials placed Herrera-Hernandez on their 10 Most Wanted list. Police in Virginia arrested him a few days later.
He has since been extradited back to Houston; the Houston Chronicle reported Friday afternoon.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.
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